f, 


Vl 


UC-NRLF 


SB    EfiE    Dfifi 


Pi 


Pr, 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


X 


TRENTON  FALLS, 

PICTURESQUE    AND    DESCRIPTIVE 


EDITED   BY 


K  PAKKEK  WILLIS; 

EMBRACING    THE    ORIGINAL    ESSAY    OF 

JOHN  SHERMAN, 

THE    FIRST    PROPRIETOR    AND    RESIDENT. 
fHK     PRINCIPAL     ILLUSTRATIONS     FROM     ORIGINAL     DESIGNS     CY 

HEINE,   KUMMER    AND    MULLER. 


GEORGE      P.     PUTNAM, 

155    BROADWAY. 

1851. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851, 

BY   M.  MOORE, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


STEREOTYPED  BY 

RICHARD   C.  VALENTIN! 

NBW  YORK. 


F.  C.  GUTIERREZ,  Printer, 
Corner  of  John  and  Dutch  streets. 


H  E  most  enjoyably 
beautiful  spot,  among  ** 
the  resorts  of  roman-  'j  ''x  1 
tic  scenery  in  our  country,  is 
the  one  which  is  the  subject  of 
the  present  little  book.  To  the 
writer,  as  to  most  other  lovers  of 
Nature  who  have  visited  it,  the 
remembrance  of  its  loveliness  has 
become  the  bright  spot  to  which 
dream  and  revery  oftenest  return.  It  seems  to  be 
curiously  adapted  to  enjoy;  being,  somehow,  not 


4  TRENTON    FALLS 

only  the  kind,  but  the  size  of  a  place  which  the 
(after  all)  measurable  arms  of  a  mortal  heart  can 
enfold  in  its  embrace.  Niagara  is  too  much — as  a 
roasted  ox  is  a  thing  to  go  to  look  at,  though  one 
retires  to  dine  on  something  smaller. 

Trenton  Falls  is  the  place,  above  all  others,  where 
it  is  a  luxury  to  stay — which  one  oftenest  revisits — 
which  one  most  commends  strangers  to  be  sure  to 
see.  The  writer,  whose  name  is  on  the  title-page, 
having  written  much,  at  different  times,  about  it,  has 
been  induced  by  his  friend,  Mr.  Moore,  the  proprie 
tor,  to  join  with  three  admirable  artists  in  putting 
together  what  pen  and  pencil  have  recorded  of  its 
beauty.  The  object  of  the  book  is  as  much  to  re 
mind  the  public  of  what  is  within  easy  access  and 
worth  their  while  to  know  of  and  frequent,  as  to 
embody  a  convenient  guide  and  companion  in  which 
the  visitor  shall  find  directions  for  his  feet  and  sym 
pathy  for  his  heart. 

The  first  thing  wanted,  of  course,  is  information  as 
to  locality,  accessibility,  situation  of  the  various  points 
of  interest,  and  accommodation  to  travellers.  These 
items  have  been  recorded  in  a  descriptive  essay  by  a 
man  whose  memory  should  be  cherished  amid  the 
admiration  given  to  the  Falls ;  for  it  is  to  his  discov- 


ILLUSTRATED.  5 

ery  and  appreciation  of  the  spot,  his  enterprise  in 
getting  possession  of  it,  and  his  perseverance  in  draw 
ing  attention  to  its  beauties  and  providing  accommo 
dation  for  visitors,  that  the  public  owe  their  enjoy 
ment  of  it.  We  speak  of  JOHN  SHERMAN,  grandson 
of  Roger  Sherman,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  and  father  of  Mrs.  Moore, 
the  wife  of  the  present  proprietor  of  the  Falls, 

As  a  matter  of  history,  we  may  remark  "  en  pas 
sant,"  that  the  village  of  Trenton  was  formerly  known 
as  OLDENBARNEVELD,*  thus  named  by  Col.  Boon, 
one  of  the  first  settlers  of  this  part  of  our  State,  and 
the  agent  of  the  Holland  Company  prior  to  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  Indian  appellation,  KAUY- 
A-HOO-RA,  literally  "  leaping  water,"  is  only  remem 
bered  by  few,  and  ere  many  years  this  beautiful  and 
descriptive  name  will  be  lost.  To  show  the  careless 
change  of  nomenclature,  which  has  for  many  years 
been  going  on  in  our  country,  we  may  be  pardoned 
for  giving  that  of  the  metamorphosis  of  Oldenbarne- 
veld.  The  principal  business  man  of  the  village, 

*  From  JOHN  OLDENBAKNEVELT,  Grand  Pensioner  of  the 
State  of  Holland,  in  the  17th  century,  who  was  beheaded  for 
his  being  too  favorable  to  religious  toleration,  and  a  friend  to 
peace  ;  and  in  the  name  is  an  intimation  of  their  (the  Dutch 
gentlemen  who  laid  it  out)  respect  for  liberty  of  conscience. 


6  TRENTON    FALLS 

some  twenty  or  thirty  years  since,  took  the  notion 
that  "  Oldcnbarneveld"  was  too  long  an  item  to  head 
his  letters  or  bills  with ;  so  he  got  up  a  petition  to 
change  it,  had  it  signed  by  three  or  four  individuals, 
sent  it  on  to  Washington — and  the  thing  was  done. 
Thus  a  name  was  adopted  already  well  known  as 
the  capital  of  New  Jersey,  and  some  other  twenty  or 
thirty  villages  and  towns  in  the  United  States.  The 
consequence  of  course  is,  that  even  at  this  day,  let 
ters  frequently  miscarry,  unless  directed,  "  Oneida 
County,  1ST.  Y."  But  to  return. 

Mr.  Sherman,  after  graduating  at  Yale  College  in 
1793,  settled  in  Mansfield,  Conn.,  having  been  or 
dained  a  minister  of  the  Congregational  denomina 
tion  ;  he  there  became  pastor  of  a  large  congrega 
tion,  and  was  universally  beloved  and  respected  ; 
but  about  the  year  1805,  having  preached  doctrines 
rather  too  liberal  to  suit  the  minds  of  a  small  part 
of  his  flock,  he  resigned  his  charge.  About  this 
time,  having  received  an  invitation  from  Col.  Mappa 
and  Judge  Vanderkemp,  who  with  their  families  had 
formed  a  small  society  of  Unitarians  at  Oldenbarne- 
veld,  he  visited  that  place  for  the  first  time,  remain 
ing  several  weeks,  and  preaching  very  acceptably  to 
them.  It  was  during  his  sojourn  at  Oldenbarneveld, 


ILLUSTRATED.  7 

that  Mr.  Sherman  made  his  first  visit  to  the  ravine 
of  the  KAUY-A-HOO-RA. 

From  the  village  to  the  Falls  was  an  unbroken 
wood ;  there  were  two  ways  of  approach,  the  one 
where  the  grist  and  saw  mills  are  (the  village  of 
Trenton  Falls  now),  the  other  at  the  summit  level  of 
the  High  Falls.  The  latter  was  taken,  the  least 
preferable  of  the  two  in  point  of  view.  The  path 
was  what  Nature  had  formed  :  the  foothold,  at  the 
period  of  Mr.  Sherman's  first  visit,  being  of  the  most 
precarious  kind,  and  attended  with  absolute  danger ; 
but  difficulty  and  danger  were  unthought  of  by  him, 
and  the  greatest  treat  of  his  life  was  before  him. 
Words  would  only  be  an  apology  for  the  impression 
of  the  scene  on  his  mind,  he  never  dreaming  there 
was  such  an  unique  display  of  Nature  so  absolutely 
unknown,  and  yet  so  near  the  habitation  of  man. 
Again  and  again  he  revisited  the  wild  ravine,  oft  re 
marking,  "  that  it  must  eventually  become  one  of 
the  great  features  of  our  continent."  Little  did  he 
then  imagine,  that  through  his  instrumentality  it 
would  in  a  few  years  so  become. 

Mr.  Sherman  returned  to  his  home  at  Mansfield, 
and  shortly  after  received  a  pressing  call  from  the 
Society  at  Oldenbarneveld  to  become  their  spiritual 


g  TRENTON    FALLS 

guide.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  on  the  9th 
of  March,  1806,  was  installed  pastor  of  the  first 
Unitarian  Church  in  the  State  of  New  York.  It 
was,  perhaps,  fortunate  that  such  a  man  was  the 
apostle  of  what  was  then  a  new  and  unsatisfactory 
doctrine  to  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  and 
its  vicinity,  for,  from  his  blameless  life  and  urbane 
character,  he  outlived  all  prejudice. 

Mr.  Sherman  was  an  eloquent  and  able  orator  and 
sound  scholar,  a  profound  logician,  and  known  as 
the  author  of  the  "  Philosophy  of  Language  Illus 
trated,"  and  of  several  works  on  Biblical  history, 
&c.  &c. 

At  the  time  he  became  their  pastor,  his  church 
was  composed  of  fourteen  members  ;  but  in  a  short 
time  the  congregation  was  so  increased  that  the 
present  spacious  church  was  erected,  which  has 
since  continued  to  prosper  as  under  the  auspices  of 
the  first  pastor, — at  the  present  time  numbering  by 
hundreds  what  was  originally  less  than  a  score. 

Mr.  Sherman,  to  provide  more  comfortably  for  a 
largely  increasing  family,  subsequently  established 
an  Academy  near  Oldenbarneveld,  which  was  soon 
in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  over  which  he  pre 
sided  for  many  years  with  high  scholarship  and 


ILLUSTRATED. 


ability;  and  in  1822  (still  clinging  to  his  old  remi 
niscences),  caused  a  house  to  be  built  at  the  Falls, 
for  the  accommodation  of  visitors,  which  he  called 
the  "  RURAL  RESORT," 


the  entire  receipts  of  which,  for  the  first  season, 
amounted  to  llSYy3^.  In  1823  he  removed  thither 
with  his  family,  and  in  1825  a  large  addition  was 


10  TRENTON  FALLS 

made  to  the  conveniences  of  the  place, — Philip 
Hone,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  his  personal  friend, 
furnishing  a  loan  for  that  purpose.  The  first  visitors 
who  slept  in  that  house  were  our  well-known  citi 
zens  Philip  Hone  and  the  late  Dominick  Lynch. 

The  remaining  years  of  Mr.  Sherman  were  passed 
at  the  "Rural  Resort,"  where,  as  the  agreeable  and 
intelligent  host,  the  scholar  and  friendly  gentleman, 
he  charmed  and  pleased  the  intellectual  traveller 
and  worshipper  of  the  sublimest  works  of  the  Crea 
tor.  These,  however,  had  been  rendered  much  more 
accessible  by  his  efforts.  The  visitor  of  the  present 
day  can  scarcely  imagine  the  almost  impracticable 
difficulty  of  the  earlier  attempt ;  for  from  the  year 
1822  until  the  present  time,  every  season  has  been 
devoted  to  the  task  of  improving  the  pathway — tons 
of  rock  at  a  time  having  been  blasted  by  the  suc 
cessful  efforts  of  the  miner — so,  that  the  fortunate 
traveller  of  our  day  can  survey,  in  perfect  security, 
the  various  points  of  scenery. 

Mr.  Sherman  died  on  the  2d  day  of  August,  1828, 
in  the  fifty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried, 
at  his  special  request,  on  the  grounds  he  so  much 
loved,  within  the  sound  of  the  loud  anthem  of  the  rag 
ing  Kauy-a-hoo-ra,  and  in  the  view  of  the  Hostelrie 


ILLUSTRATED. 


II 


he  had  founded.  The  traveller,  casting  his  eye  to 
the  northward  of  the  hotel,  may  observe,  on  the 
summit  of  a  conical  hill,  an  inclosed  space  beautifully 
shaded.  There  rests  what  remains,  earthly,  of  JOHN 
SHERMAN. 


12  TRENTON    FALLS 


^  should  precede  Mr.  Sherman's 
account  °f  the  Falls,  perhaps 
(since  it  was  written  as  far  back  as  1827), 
with  a  brief  mention  of  the  present  im 
provements  in  access  and  accommodation. 
Within  the  last  year,  Mr.  Moore  has  made  very 
large  additions  to  the  building,  and  the  hotel  now 
has  a  front  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  feet,  a 
piazza  twelve  feet  wide,  a  dining-room  sixty  feet  by 
thirty ;  large  suites  of  apartments,  sleeping-rooms 
well  ventilated,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  luxuries  of  a 
first-class  hotel  at  a  "  Watering  Place."  A  plank 
road  has  been  laid  from  Utica  hither,  over  which 
the  travel  is  about  two  hours.  Mr.  Moore  has  been 
at  great  trouble  and  expense  in  building  stairways, 
and  making  arrangements  for  greater  convenience 
and  security  in  visiting  the  wild  chasms  of  the  tor 
rent  ;  and  there  is  at  present  neither  danger  nor 
over-fatigue  in  seeing  all  that  the  place  has  to  show 
of  grand  and  beautiful.  For  long  visits,  which 
Trenton  Falls  particularly  invite,  the  hotel  will  be 


ILLUSTRATED. 


13 


found  a  delightful  home ;  and  for  these  Mr.  Moore 
makes  the  usual  accommodations. 

We  here  present  a  view  of  the  VILLAGE  FALL,  as 
seen  from  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  a  short 
distance  below  the  hotel,  and  then  proceed  to  give 
(as  written  by  Mr.  Sherman  in  1827)  the  following 


HIS  superb  scenery  of  Nature,  to 
•V"  which  thousands  now  annually  re 
sort — a  scenery  altogether  unique 
y-~""""  in  its  character,  as  combining  at  once 
the  beautiful,  the  romantic,  and  the  magnifi 
cent — all  that  variety  of  rocky  chasms,  cata 
racts,  cascades,  rapids,  &c.,  elsewhere  separately  ex 
hibited  in  different  regions — was,  until  within  five 
years,  not  accessible  without  extreme  peril  and  toil, 
and  therefore  not  generally  known.  It  is  in  latitude 
43°  23';  14  miles  north  of  the  flourishing  city  of 
Utica,  the  great  thoroughfare  of  this  region,  situated 


U  TRENTON    FALLS 

on  a  gentle  ascent  from  the  bank  of  the  Mohawk, 
amidst  a  charming  and  most  fertile  country.  Here 
every  facility  can  be  had  for  a  ride  to  Trenton 
Falls,  where  a  house  of  entertainment  is  erected, 
near  the  bank  of  the  West  Canada  Creek,  for  the 
accommodation  of  visitors,  and  where  they  can 
tarry  any  length  of  time  which  may  suit  their  con 
venience. 

This  creek  is  the  main  branch  of  the  Mohawk 
River,  as  the  Missouri  is  of  the  Mississippi,  having 
lost  its  proper  name  because  not  so  early  explored. 
It  interlocks  on  the  summit  elevation  with  the  Black 
River,  the  distance  being  only  three -fourths  of  a 
mile,  where  the  waters  of  the  one  may  be  easily 
turned  into  the  other.  It  has  chosen  its  course 
along  the  highlands,  making  its  way  on  the  back 
bone  of  the  country,  and  empties  into  the  Mohawk 
at  Herkimer. 

The  "  RURAL  RESORT,"  or  house  of  entertainment 
at  the  Falls,  which  is  at  the  end  of  the  road,  and  in 
closed  on  three  sides  by  the  native  forest,  opens  sud 
denly  to  view  upon  elevated  ground,  at  the  distance 
of  a  mile  in  a  direct  line  of  the  road.  From  the 
door-yard  you  step  at  once  into  the  forest,  and, 
walking  only  twenty  rods,  strike  the  bank  at  the 


ILLUSTRATED.  15 

place  of  descent.  This  is  about  one  hundred  feet  of 
nearly  perpendicular  rock,  made  easy  and  safe  by 
five  pair  of  stairs  with  railings.  You  land  upon  a 
broad  pavement,  level  with  the  water's  edge,  a  fu 
rious  rapid  being  in  front,  that  has  cut  down  the 
rock  still  deeper,  and  which,  at  one  place,  in  times 
of  drought,  does  not  exceed  ten  feet  in  width  ;  but 
hi  spring  and  fall  floods,  or  after  heavy  rain,  becomes 
a  tremendously  foaming  torrent,  rising  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  feet,  and  sweeping  the  lowest  flight  of 
stairs.  Being  now  on  the  pavement,  the  river  at 
your  feet,  perpendicular  walls  of  solid  rock  on  each 
side,  and  the  narrow  zone  of  ethereal  sky  far  over 
head,  your  feelings  are  at  once  excited.  You  have 
passed  to  a  subterranean  world.  The  first  impres 
sion  is  astonishment  at  the  change.  But  recovering 
instantly,  your  attention  is  forthwith  attracted  to 
the  magnificence,  the  grandeur,  the  beauty,  and 
sublimity  of  the  scene.  You  stand  and  pause.  You 
behold  the  operations  of  incalculable  ages.  You 
are  thrown  back  to  antediluvian  times.  The  ada 
mant  rock  has  yielded  to  the  flowing  water,  which 
has  formed  the  wonderful  chasm.  You  tread  on 
petrifactions,  or  fossil  organic  remains,  imbedded 
in  the  four-hundredth  stratum,  which  preserve  the 


16 


TRENTON    FALLS 


form,  and  occupy  the  place,  of  beings  once  animated 
like  yourselves,  each  stratum  having  been  the  de 
posit  of  a  supervening  flood,  that  happened  succes 
sively,  Eternity  alone  knows  when. 

At  this  station  is  a  view  of  the  outlet  of  the 
chasm,  forty-five  rods  below,  and  also  of  what  is 
styled  the  first  fall,  thirty-seven  rods  up  the  stream. 


^^s.-  ^  ^^f:    -  '-  -"  c*  g^==^^  -  -    >:. 


The  parapet  of  this  fall,  visible  from  the  foot  of  the 
stairs,  is,  in  dry  time,  a  naked  perpendicular  rock 


ILLUSTRATED.  17 

thirty-three  feet  high,  apparently  extending  quite 
across  the  chasm,  the  water  retiring  to  the  left,  and 
being  hid  from  the  eye  by  intervening  prominences. 
But  in  freshets,  or  after  heavy  rains,  it  pours  over 
from  the  one  side  of  the  chasm  to  the  other  in  a 
proud  amber  sheet.  A  pathway  to  this  has  been 
blasted,  at  a  considerable  expense,  under  an  over 
hanging  rock,  and  around  an  extensive  projection, 
directly  beneath  which  rages  and  roars  a  most  vio 
lent  rapid.  Here  some,  unaccustomed  to  such  bold 
scenery,  have  been  intimidated,  and  a  few  have 
turned  back.  But  the  passage  is  level,  with  a  rocky 
wall  to  lean  against,  and  rendered  perfectly  safe  at 
the  turn  of  the  projection  by  chains  well  riveted  in 
the  side. 

In  the  midway  of  this  projection,  five  tons  were 
thrown  off  by  a  fortunate  blast,  affording  a  perfectly 
level  and  broad  space,  where  fifteen  or  twenty  may 
stand  together  and  take  a  commanding  view  of  the 
whole  scenery.  A  little  to  the  left  the  rapid  com 
mences  its  wild  career.  Directly  underneath,  it 
niges,  foams,  and  roars,  driving  with  resistless  fury, 
and  forcing  a  tortuous  passage  into  the  expanded 
stream  on  the  right.  In  front  is  a  projection  from 
the  other  side,  curved  to  a  concavity  of  a  semicircle 


18  TRENTON    FALLS 

by  the  impetuous  waters.  The  top  of  this  opponent 
projection  has  been  swept  away,  and  is  entirely  flat ; 
exhibiting,  from  its  surface  downwards,  the  separate 
strata  as  regular,  as  distinct,  and  as  horizontal  as  the 
mason- work  in  the  locks  of  the  grand  canal.  Here, 
in  old  time,  was  a  lofty  fall,  now  reduced  to  the 
rapid  just  described. 

Passing  hence  on  a  level  of  twenty  feet  above  the 
stream,  we  witness  the  amazing  power  of  the  wa 
ters  in  the  spring  and  autumnal  freshets.  Massive 
slabs  of  rock  lie  piled  in  the  middle  of  the  river, 
thrown  over  the  falls  above,  weighing  from  ten  to 
twenty  tons.  These  are  occasionally  swept  on 
through  the  rapids,  and  floated  over  the  five-feet 
falls  at  the  outlet  of  the  chasm.  Such  is  their  mo 
mentum,  that  every  bound  upon  the  bottom  causes 
a  vibration  at  the  Rural  Resort,  and  their  stifled 
thunder,  amid  the  agitated  roar  of  waters,  is  some 
times  very  distinctly  heard. 

A  few  rods  above  this  pile  of  rocks  we  pass  to  the 
left,  and  suddenly  come  in  full  view  of  the  descend 
ing  cataract,  which  is  known  as  the  SHERMAN  FALL.  \/ 
It  has  formed  an  immense  excavation,  having  thrown 
out  thousands  of  tons  from  the  parapet  rock  visible 
at  the  stairs,  and  is  annually  forcing  off  slabs  from 


ILLUSTRATED.  19 

the  west  corner,  against  which  it  incessantly  pours 
a  section  of  its  powerful  sheet. 

It  is  difficult  to  give  a  description  of  the  scenery 
here.  A  mass  of  naked  rock,  extending  up  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  to  the  summit  of  the  bank, 
juts  forward  with  threatening  aspect.  The  visitor 
ascends  by  natural  steps  to  the  throat  of  its  yawn 
ing,  and,  like  a  son  of  Hercules,  literally  shoulders 
the  mountain  above.  Here  he  stands  free  from  the 
spray,  in  a  direct  line  of  the  parapet  wall,  survey 
ing  at  leisure  the  evergreens  which  cover  in  contrast 
the  opponent  bank  with  a  rich  foliage  of  the  deepest 
verdure,  and  immediately  at  his  feet  the  operation 
of  the  cataract  rushing  down  into  the  spacious  ex 
cavation  it  has  formed.  Back  of  this  thick  amber 
sheet,  the  reaction  of  the  water  has  worn  away  the 
rock  to  an  exact  circular  curve,  eight  or  ten  feet  in 
diameter,  which  exhibits  a  furiously  boiling  cauldron 
of  the  very  whitest  foam.  In  the  bosom  of  the  ex 
cavation  a  Fairy  makes  her  appearance  at  a  certain 
hour  of  sunshine,  and  dances  through  the  mist, 
modestly  retiring  as  the  visitor  changes  his  position, 
and  blushing  all  colors  when  she  finds  him  gazing 
at  her  irised  beauties.  A  few  rods  beyond  this  spot 
a  thin  shelf  puts  out  from  the  mountain,  under 


20  TRENTON    FALLS 

which  it  never  rains,  nor  snows,  nor  shines.  In 
front  the  river  hastens  smoothly  and  rapidly  to  the 
fall  below. 

Leaving  this  rocky  shelf  we  pass  a  furious  wind 
ing  rapid,  w^hicb,  encroaching  on  the  path,  drives 
the  visitor  close  under  a  low  projecting  cliff  that 
compels  him  to  stoop,  and  seems  to  demand  homage 
as  a  prerequisite  of  admission  to  the  splendid  scenery 
just  beyond.  Here  all  ages  and  sexes  bow,  who 
would  pass  from  the  portico  into  the  grand  temple 
of  nature's  magnificence,  to  witness  the  display  of 
her  sublimer  glories. 

This  service  performed,  there  opens  upon  us, 
when  the  water  is  low,  an  expansion  of  flat  rock, 
where  we  are  suddenly  transported  with  a  full  view 
of  the  HIGH  FALLS,  forty  rods  beyond.  The  eye, 
elevated  at  a  considerable  angle,  beholds  a  perpen 
dicular  rock  one  hundred  feet  high,  extending  across 
the  opening  in  a  diagonal  line  from  the  mountainous 
walls  on  each  side  rising  seventy  or  eighty  feet  still 
higher.  Over  this  the  whole  river  descends,  first 
perpendicularly  about  forty  feet,  the  main  body 
rushing  to  the  left.  On  the  right  it  pours  down  in 
a  beautiful  white  sheet.  For  a  short  distance  in 
the  middle  the  rock  is  left  entirely  naked,  exhibiting 


ILLUSTRATED.  21 

a  perpendicular  and  bold  breastwork,  as  though 
reared  by  art  to  divide  the  beautiful  white  sheet  on 
the  one  side  from  the  overwhelming  fury  of  the 
waters  on  the  other.  They  unite  on  a  flat  below  ; 
then,  with  a  tumultuous  foam,  veer  suddenly  down 
an  inclination  of  rooky  steps,  whence  the  whole  river 
is  precipitated  into  a  wide,  deep,  and  dark  basin, 
forty  feet  underneath — mountainous  walls  rising  on 
each  side  of  the  stream  nearly  two  hundred  feet — 
tall  hemlocks  and  bending  cedars  extending  their 
branches  on  the  verge  above — small  shrubbery  va 
riegating  here  and  there  their  stupendous  and  naked 
sides.  On  the  right  of  the  basin  a  charming  verdure 
entirely  overspreads  a  smoothly  rounding  and  ma 
jestic  prominence,  which  reaches  half  way  up  the 
towering  summit,  and  over  the  whole  sky  mingles 
with  retiring  evergreens,  until  verging  in  perspective 
to  the  distant  angle  of  incidence,  they  are  lost  in  the 
ethereal  expanse  beyond. 

Such  are  the  HIGH  FALLS,  which  the  pen  may 
faintly  describe,  and  of  which  the  pencil  may  por 
tray  the  outline,  but  Nature  reserves  to  herself  the 
prerogative  of  giving  to  her  visitors  the  rapturous 
impression. 

The  view  of  these  falls  varies  exceedingly,  accord- 


22  TRENTON    FALLS 

ing  to  the  plenitude  or  paucity  of  the  waters.  In 
the  autumnal  floods,  and  particularly  the  spring 
freshets,  arising  from  the  sudden  liquefaction  of 
snow  in  the  northern  country,  the  river  is  swelled  a 
hundred-fold,  and  comes  rushing  in  a  vast  body  of 
tumultuous  foam  from  the  summit  rock  into  the 
broad  basin  at  the  bottom.  It  is  at  this  time  tre 
mendous  indeed,  and  overpowers  man's  feeble  frame 
with  the  paralyzing  impression  of  Omnipotence. 
On  these  occasions  the  solid  foundations  of  the  earth 
are  ripped  up,  and  enormous  slabs  of  rock  are  float 
ed  off,  or  deposited  in  piles  to  the  right  or  left  of 
the  all-controlling  current.  We  have  in  effect  the 
peerless  majesty,  the  awful  power,  and  the  deep  vol 
leying  thunder  of  the  grand  cataract  of  Niagara,  which 
causes  the  heavens  to  shake  and  the  earth  to  trem 
ble  ;  which  forces  the  son  of  pride  to  feel  himself 
mere  insignificance  on  the  verge  of  annihilation  ;  and 
proclaims,  in  his  astounded  ears,  what  is  meant  by 
the  existence,  and  what  it  is  to  stand  before  the 
throne  of  that  Infinite  Supreme,  who  can  make  such 
an  appalling  display  upon  a  comparatively  single 
atom  of  the  universe  ! 

Passing  up  at  the  side  we  mount  a  grand  level 
on  the  top,  where  in  dry  times  the  stream  retires  to 


ILLUSTRATED.  23 

the  right,  and  opens  a  wide  pavement  for  a  large 
party  to  walk  abreast.  Here  a  flight  of  stairs  leads 
up  to  a  house  of  refreshment,  styled  the  RURAL  RE 
TREAT,  twenty  feet  above  the  summit  of  the  high 
falls,  and  in  a  direct  line  with  them — a  house  thirty 
by  sixteen,  with  a  well  furnished  bar)  and  also  a 
room  for  gentlemen  and  ladies,  encircled  and  shaded 
by  hemlocks  and  cedars,  from  the  front  platform  and 
windows  of  which  is  a  full  view  of  the  inverted 
scenery  of  the  falls,  of  the  flat  rock  below,  and  of 
the  visitors  who  pass  upon  it  to  survey  the  exhibi 
tion  above.  Here  the  philosopher  and  divine  may 
make  their  sage  remarks  and  draw  their  grave  con 
clusions  ;  the  weary  rest  from  their  labors,  the  hun 
gry  and  dry  recruit  their  exhausted  spirits  ;  the 
sociable  of  all  grades  and  nations  converse  freely 
and  unknown  together;  the  facetious  display  the 
coruscations  of  their  wit,  and  the  cheerful  in  dispo 
sition  enjoy  the  innocent  glee  of  hilarity.  Greece, 
embellished  by  immortal  bards,  cannot  boast  a  spot 
so  highly  romantic. 

The  opening  of  the  chasm  now  becomes  consid 
erably  enlarged,  and  a  new  style  of  scenery  com 
mences.  Forty  rods  beyond  this  is  what  is  usually 
denominated  the  MILL-DAM  FALL,  fourteen  feet  high, 


24  'TRENTON    FALLS 

stretching  its  broad  sheet  of  water  from  the  one  side  to 
the  other  of  the  expanded  chasm.  This  also  is  visi 
ble  through  the  branches  of  evergreens  at  the  Rural 
Retreat. 

Ascending  this  fall,  we  are  introduced  to  another 
still  more  expanded  and  extensive  platform  of  level 
rock,  fifteen  rods  wide  at  low-water,  and  ninety  in 
length,  lined  on  each  side  with  cedars,  which  extend 
down  to  the  walking  level,  whose  branches  all 
crowd  forward  under  their  bending  trunks,  and  whose 
backs  are  as  naked  as  the  towering  rocky  walls,  con 
cealed  in  contrast  a  rod  or  two  behind  them. 

This  place  may  justly  be  denominated  the  ALHAM- 
BRA  of  nature.  At  the  extremity  of  it  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  scenes  imaginable ;  a  scene  that  no 
pen  can  describe  to  one  who  is  not  on  the  spot,  and 
where  every  landscape  painter  always  drops  his  pen 
cil.  It  is  far  too  much  for  art  to  imitate,  or  for  elo 
quence  to  represent.  It  is  the  prerogative  of  Nature 
alone  to  do  this :  she  has  done  it  once,  and  stands 
without  a  rival  competitor.  Here  I  ought  to  drop 
my  pen.  A  naked  rock,  sixty  feet  high,  reaches  grad 
ually  forward  from  the  mid  distance  its  shelving  top, 
from  which  descends  a  perpetual  rill  that  forms  a 
natural  shower-bath. 


ILLUSTRATED.  25 

On  the  very  verge  of  its  overhanging-  summit 
stands  a  tall  cedar,  whose  fingered  apex  towers 
aloft,  pointing  up  to  the  skies,  and  whose  thick 
branches  elongating  gradually  towards  the  root, 
reach  far  down  the  projecting  cliff  with  an  impene 
trable  shade  of  deepest  verdure.  On  the  left  is  a 
most  wild  cascade,  where  the  water  rushes  over  the 
variously  posited  strata  in  all  directions,  combining 
the  gentle  fall  and  the  outrageous  cataract,  which 
we  term  the  CASCADE  OF  THE  ALHAMBRA. 

Here  the  expansive  opening  suddenly  contracts, 
and  leaves  a  narrow  aperture,  through  which  the 
eye  beholds  mountainous  walls  retiring  in  various 
curvatures  and  projections.  Directly  opposite  the 
spectator  is  a  large  perpendicular  rock  on  the  other 
side  of  the  stream,  at  whose  base  the  raging  waters 
become  still.  Annexed  to  this  is  a  lofty  tower, 
rising  in  a  vast  column  at  its  side,  commanding, 
with  imposing  majesty,  the  scenery  around.  At 
your  feet  is  a  dark  basin  of  water  forty  feet  deep, 
resting  from  its  labors  in  the  wild  cascade  above, 
and  relieved  by  collections  of  whitest  foam,  which 
frequently  assemble  within  an  eddy  at  the  upper 
end,  and  dance  to  each  other  in  fantastic  forms,  and, 
capped  like  caliphs,  pursuing  the  course  of  all  hands 


26  TRENTON    FALLS 

round  in  an  eternal  circle.  On  the  right,  the  whole 
river  descends  gently  down  a  charming  plain,  until 
lost  amidst  evergreens  as  it  passes  over  the  falls 
below. 

Ascending  this  cascade,  whose  thwarting,  raging, 
foaming,  dashing  waters  would  seem  to  forbid  a 
passage  at  its  side,  you  are  introduced  to  a  grand 
amphitheatre  unseen  before,  where  is  a  towering 
rock  of  threatening  majesty  with  a  singular  support 
ing  column,  from  whose  impending  cliff  have  fell 
enormous  slabs  of  strata,  sixteen  or  eighteen  inches 
thick.  Between  this  deposited  pile  and  the  base  it 
would  seem  temerity  to  pass,  lest  you  should  be  in 
stantly  crushed.  This  danger  may  be  avoided  by 
keeping  near  the  water's  edge.  Just  beyond  the 
column  is  exhibited  a  natural  fireplace.  Here,  also, 
a  rill  descends,  a  few  feet  below  the  summit  shelf. 
A  cedar  extends  down  within  reach  its  elongated 
branches  from  the  root,  by  which  a  sailor  could  as 
easily  ascend  the  bank  as  up  the  shrouds  of  his 
ship  ;  and  under  this  shelving  summit  a  solemnizing 
echo  is  generally  heard,  as  of  the  dreadful  roar  of 
overwhelming  floods  rushing  from  on  high.  It  is 
caused  by  the  cascade  below. 

Here  the  strata  are  composed  of  bivalve  shells, 


ILLUSTRATED.  27 

Terebratulse  and  Product!,  with  merely  a  cement  to 
unite  them  together ;  among  which  are  Orthocera- 
tites,  vertebrae  of  Crinoidea,  and  forms  resembling 
the  snake  or  eel  in  motion,  which,  whether  testa 
ceous  or  crustaceous,  I  have  never  seen  exemplified 
or  described  in  any  oryctological  publication.  Three 
of  these  forms  I  once  found  together,  radiating  as- 
terially  from  a  depressed  point  of  junction  ;  but  in 
attempting  to  extract  the  specimen  it  was  entirely 
ruined. 

A  few  rods  up  the  stream  there  is,  on  the  oppo 
site  wall,  an  extraordinary  interruption  of  the  strata, 
which  has  very  much  the  appearance,  as  to  size  and 
form,  of  a  superannuated  hemlock  turned  up  by  the 
roots,  its  trunk  inclining,  with  a  considerable  angle, 
up  through  thirty  or  forty  strata,  and  worn  away  to 
its  axis.  Immediately  above  and  below,  and  at  the 
sides  of  this  dendriform  interposition,  the  strata  are 
all  horizontal,  as  is  the  case  with  the  whole  wall, 
and  also  of  the  correspondent  wall  on  this  side  of 
the  creek.  I  can  give  no  solution  of  this  anomaly, 
but  mention  it  as  what  may  possibly  be  useful  in  the 
annals  of  geological  science.  I  cannot  consider  it  to 
be  a  petrifaction. 

From  this,  passing  a  high  projection,  we  come  to 


28  TRENT  ON    FALLS 

a  place  where  this  wonderful  chasm  is  fully  demon 
strated  to  be  the  effect  of  the  operation  of  the 
stream.  We  see  the  process  actually  going  on. 
The  curvatures  here,  through  which  the  water 
rushes  for  a  considerable  distance,  are  as  regular  as 
if  drawn  by  the  compass,  or  any  method  of  forming 
the  varieties  of  a  curve.  One  of  these  is  styled  the 
Rocky  Heart,  from  its  perfect  resemblance  to  that 
form  on  cards,  which  is  so  denominated.  In  a  flat 
rock  at  the  side,  there  is  nearly  in  contact  a  circular 
hole,  named  by  some  the  Potash  Kettle,  and  by 
others  Jacob's  Well,  which  is  five  or  six  feet  deep, 
and  three  or  four  in  diameter.  It  is  usually  half 
full  of  stones  of  various  sizes,  worn  perfectly  smooth, 
and  exhibiting  all  the  varieties  of  curvilinear  form. 
Several  similar  perforations  exist  in  different  parts 
of  the  chasm,  from  the  size  of  a  tumbler  up  to  the 
potash  kettle. 

The  doctrine  then  is,  that  at  first  was  deposited 
in  the  crack  of  a  stratum  a  small  pebble  of  granite 
or  other  substance,  harder  than  the  lime  rock,  which, 
being  agitated  by  the  water,  wore  a  circular  indent 
ation.  In  this,  other  pebbles  subsequently  lodged, 
and,  when  overflowed,  perforated  the  rock  still 
deeper,  and  wore  the  indentation  still  wider.  So 


ILLUSTRATED.  29 

on,  larger  and  larger  were  from  time  to  time  depos 
ited,  until  considerable-sized  fragments  of  rock  or 
stones  performed  the  same  process  in  floods,  and  at 
length  opened  the  perforation  into  the  current. 
Moreover,  the  walls  above  the  current  being  every 
season  penetrated  an  inch  or  more  by  moisture,  and 
this  moisture  frozen  in  winter,  become  annually  dis 
integrated  at  the  sides,  which  combined  operation 
has  produced  the  depth  and  width  of  the  chasm  as 
it  now  exists. 

The  opening  in  the  widest  places  at  the  top  is 
about  three  hundred  yards.  Now,  on  supposition 
that  the  disintegration  has  been  annually  one  inch 
on  each  side,  it  will  be  found,  by  calculation,  that  it 
requires  between  five  and  six  thousand  years  of  this 
process  to  produce  the  effect ;  which  corresponds 
with  sufficient  exactness  to  the  Mosaic  account  of 
the  period  in  which  the  solid  surface  of  the  earth 
emerged  from  its  pre-existent  state.  I  see  nothing 
here  incompatible  with  the  Mosaic  history,  but  much 
in  its  confirmation.  It  is  allowed  by  intelligent  di 
vines,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  and  is,  in  fact, 
very  plainly  intimated  by  Moses  himself,  that  the 
"six  days"  of  creation  denoted  merely  a  successive 
operation  of  divine  power  upon  the  chaotic  matter 


30  TRENT  ON    FALLS 

of  the  universe,  for  the  production  of  its  present 
organization  or  relatively  arranged  form.  Having 
enumerated  the  several  items  of  successive  produc 
tion,  indicated  by  the  figurative  representation  of 
"  six  days,"  he  gives  us  the  summary  expression  of 
the  case,  Gen.  ii.  4,  saying,  "  These  are  the  genera 
tions  (mark  the  language)  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  in  THE  DAY  (singular  number)  in  which  the 
Lord  God  made  (i.  e.  formed  or  produced)  the  earth 
and  the  heavens."  The  pre-existent  state  of  the 
earth  he  thus  represents,  Gen.  i.  2.  "  And  the 
earth  was  without  form  and  void,  (i.  e.  unorganized, 
not  arranged,)  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of 
the  deep.  And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the 
face  of  the  waters."  Now  all  this  is  perfectly  phil 
osophical,  and  stands  uncontradicted  by  any  geo 
logical  investigation  or  discovery  which  has  been 
made. 

How  long  were  these  successive  periods,  and  what 
was  the  pre-existing  state  of  things,  Moses  does  not 
pretend  to  say.  They  are  questions  of  curious 
speculation,  on  which  geologists  may  innocently 
hazard  a  conjecture.  Mount  Etna  may  have  been 
a  volcano  in  the  sea,  while  "  darkness  was  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep,"  and  the  stratifications  of  primary 


ILLUSTRATED.  31 

and  secondary  rocks,  with  the  most  ancient  organic 
fossil  forms,  may  have  taken  place  when  "  the  Spirit 
of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  The 
philosophy  of  Moses  looks  with  pity  upon  all  such 
stupid  cavils,  and  spurns  the  aid  of  an  advocate  to 
plead  its  cause.  Let,  then,  geologists  go  on  and  dive 
deep  into  the  bowels  of  our  earth,  as  the  immortal 
Newton  soared  to  the  stars  of  heaven,  and,  like  him, 
return  with  the  proof,  that,  as  an  "  undevout  astron 
omer,"  so  an  irreligious  geologist  "is  mad."  His 
must  indeed  be  "a  forlorn  hope,"  who  can  view  the 
wonderful  scenery  of  nature  in  this  wonderful  chasm 
without  correspondent  emotions  of  reverential  piety. 
It  is  a  scene  where  the  God  of  Nature  himself 
preaches  the  most  eloquent  and  impressive  lectures 
to  every  visitor  ;  but  more  especially  to  the  philoso 
pher,  whose  mind  is  called  to  ascend  from  the  won 
derful  operations  of  nature,  to  nature's  more  won 
derful  and  incomprehensible  CAUSE  ;  for  what  is 
NATURE,  but  the  systematic  course  of  divine  operation  ? 
At  the  Rocky  Heart  it  is  customary  to  stop,  see 
ing  the  passage  beyond  is  attended  with  some  dan 
ger,  and  the  scenery,  within  the  last  eighty  rods,  is, 
to  a  considerable  degree,  characteristic  of  what  fol 
lows. 


32  TRENTON    FALLS 

On  your  return  to  the  Rural  Resort,  you  ascend 
the  bank  immediately  behind  the  Rural  Retreat, 
where  many  picturesque  glimpses  of  the  river  may 
be  had,  one  particularly  at  Carmichael's  Point,  a 
view  of  which  is  annexed.  Thence,  carefully  observ 
ing  to  keep  the  left-hand  foot-path  on  the  summit 
near  the  creek,  you  pass  through  the  cool  shade  of 
the  forest,  until  you  arrive  with  a  good  appetite  at 
the  place  where  you  landed  from  your  carriage. 

The  usual  dining  hour  is  two  o'clock.  Being  in 
the  wilderness,  at  the  end  of  the  road,  and  without 
any  regular  market,  it  is  impossible  for  such  an  es 
tablishment  to  furnish,  as  in  cities  or  villages,  sepa 
rate  tables  and  at  different  times.  This  ought  not 
to  be  expected  nor  required.  Visitors,  who  wish  to 
dine,  should  notify  to  the  barkeeper  the  number  of 
their  party,  in  order  that  correspondent  preparations 
may  be  made  ;  and  if  any  party  does  not  return  at 
the  appointed  time,  they  cannot  expect  the  same 
fare  as  "  while  the  blessing  is  on."  The  establish 
ment  is  disposed  to  do,  in  all  cases,  what  it  can ; 
and  it  trusts  that  the  candid  and  reflecting  will  be 
no  less  ready,  on  their  part,  to  make  all  due  allow 
ance  for  peculiar  circumstances.  The  best  that  can 
be  procured  in  this  retired  location  is  always  served 


ILLUSTRATED.  33 

up  without  the  ceremony  of  apology.  Our  wishes 
never  yet  wrought  miracles,  and,  consequently,  we 
are  not  always  equally  well  prepared.  The  will 
must  sometimes  be  taken  for  the  deed. 

Among  the  numerous  thousands  who  have  visited 
these  Falls,  we  are  happy  to  say  that  very  few  in 
stances  have  occurred  of  the  least  deviation  from 
good  behavior  or  politeness.  We  record  this  fact 
with  pleasure,  as  characteristic  of  the  dignified  re 
finement  of  the  age. 


T  R  E  J,  T  O  N    FALLS 


LTHOUGH  the  passage  beyond 
the  Rocky  Heart  is,  at  present, 
difficult,  and  even  dangerous,  yet 
both  gentlemen  and  ladies  have 
frequently  passed  as  far  as  Boon's  Bridge* 
where  is  a  fall  of  about  twenty  feet,  and  where 
the  chasm  commences.     This  is  nearly  three 
miles  from  the  Rural  Resort.     Every  one  who 
would  explore  the  whole  chasm,  should  take 
the  full  day  before  him,  which  will  afford  him 
time  to  rest  an  hour  or  two  at  the  village  near  the 
bridge,  and  recruit  his  strength.     Considerable  has 
already  been  done  to  render  this  passage  feasible ; 
and,  in  all  probability,  it  will  soon  be  both  easy  and 
safe. 

It  will  of  course  be  perceived,  in  view  of  what 
has  been  stated  concerning  the  floods  and  rains,  that 


; 


ILLUSTRATED.  35 

the  scenery  must  vary  according  as  the  water  is 
hi^h  or  low.  The  outlines  of  the  chasm  remain 

O 

indeed  the  same  ;  but  the  character  and  impression 
of  the  view  are  vastly  different.  When  the  water 
is  very  low,  you  have  a  much  easier,  far  more  spa 
cious,  and  more  pleasing  path.  At  the  ALHAMBRA 
fifty  may  walk  abreast,  and  hundreds  may  pass 
each  other  on  the  beautiful  level  and  dry  pavement 
of  its  saloon.  You  see  much  more  of  the  rock  and 
of  the  manifest  operation  of  the  waters  in  wearing- 
it  away  ;  and  the  large  party  enjoy  with  more  zest 
their  association,  as  they  can  sit  together,  make 
philosophical  observations,  and  communicate  their 
mutual  impressions,  or  range  about  the  shelving  de 
clivities  from  the  path  to  the  water's  edge.  For  a 
party  of  pleasure,  especially  those  who  have  often 
visited  the  Falls,  some  think  the  time  of  low  water 
is  the  most  eligible  season.  It  undoubtedly  has  the 
advantages  specified  above. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  water  is  so  high  as 
barely  to  allow  a  passage,  Indian  file,  the  majesty 
and  imposing  grandeur,  the  magnificence  and  sub 
limity  of  the  scene,  are  proportionably  heightened. 
It  is  quite  another  view.  Hence  it  is  desirable  to 
witness  this  scenery  in  all  its  variations. 


36 


TREXTON    FALLS 


At  high  water,  which,  even  in  midsummer,  two 
days'  heavy  rain  will  effect,  the  spray  at  the  first,  and 
also  at  the  High  Falls,  is  like  an  April  shower,  and 
requires  the  visitor  to  haste  through  its  penetrating 
mist.  The  rapids,  on  such  occasions,  are  propor 
tionally  more  interesting. 

In  winter,  these  Falls  are  not  easily  nor  safely  ap 
proached,  the  pathway  being  slippery,  or  blocked 
by  snows  ;  which  would  require  pointed  steel  for  the 


ILLUSTRATED.  37 

feet  in  the  one  case,  and  much  exertion  in  the  other. 
Some,  however,  do  visit  them  in  the  winter  ;  at 
which  time  the  view  is  superlatively  splendid. 
From  the  overhanging  cliffs,  enormous  icicles,  reach 
ing  down  to  the  pathway,  become  transparent  col 
onnades.  The  descending  rills,  already  described, 
form  an  inverted  tunnel,  whose  base  is  eight  or  ten 
feet,  the  apex  touching  the  summit  of  the  cliff  sixty 
feet  high,  and  the  water  pouring  down  through  the 
centre.  At  the  High  Falls,  the  shrubbery  in  its 
environs  is  distended  by  the  frozen  spray,  and  span 
gles  and  glitters  in  the  sunbeam  with  inexpressible 
lustre.  The  reader  may  easily  imagine  the  rest. 

Still  different,  and  far  more  awfully  solemn  and 
sublime,  is  the  scene  by  moonlight.  At  the  proper 
season,  the  moon,  between  the  hours  of  ten  and 
eleven,  appears  through  the  boughs  and  tops  of 
evergreens  on  the  summit  of  the  opponent  bank, 
and  throws  her  interrupted  rays  upon  the  foot-path. 
It  is  literally  the  descent  of  ^Eneas  to  Pluto's  dreary 
domain.  You  cannot  imagine  that  you  belong  to 
the  upper  world.  You  have  departed  hence.  You 
are  walking,  like  ghosts,  through  the  chambers  of 
the  grave,  the  mausoleums  of  the  dead,  the  cata 
combs  of  old  Time.  You  find  yourselves  in  a  world 


33  TRENTON    FALLS 

of  spirits,  where  every  thing  around  is  the  deep 
shadow  of  an  evanescent  shade.  You  pause,  your 
feelings  are  solemnized  ;  you  withhold  your  step. 
At  length  the  moon  towers  aloft,  and  displays  her 
full  orb  of  mild  and  chastened  lijrht,  which,  while  it 

O         7  ' 

flickers  upon  the  raging  rapids,  tinging  their  surface 
with  burnished  silver,  produces  a  mighty  contrast, 
as  at  the  awful  moment  of  creation,  when  the  firma 
ment  and  the  waters  of  the  deep,  the  light  and  the 
darkness,  were  separated  by  omnipotent  command. 
But  I  may  not  attempt  to  portray  a  scene  which 
cannot  be  comprehended  by  those  who  live  only 
upon  the  surface  of  our  world.  Suffice  it  to  remark, 
that  there  is  no  more  danger  in  passing  through  the 
chasm  at  such  a  season  than  any  other.  Here  the 
writer  has  retired  at  midnight  for  contemplation,  to 
familiarize  himself  with  mortality  ;  and  here  his  chil 
dren  have  left  behind  the  bustle  and  cares  of  day, 
to  pay  their  more  solemn  adorations  to  Nature's 
almighty  and  all-glorious  GOD. 

O         J  O 

The  geological  order  of  these  rocks  is  pronounced 
by  Professor  Eaton  and  Professor  Renwick  to  be 
transition,  the  first  that  contains  fossil  organic  re 
mains.  Their  character,  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
chasm,  is  the  compact  fetid  carbonate  of  lime.  The 


ILLUSTRATED. 


color  is  a  very  dark  blue,  and  the  rock  is  extremely 
hard  and  brittle.  It  is  unsuitable  for  mortar,  unless 
broken  into  small  pieces  previous  to  calcination. 
Some  strata  are  more  or  less  interspersed  with  sili- 
cious  particles,  which  give,  with  steel,  the  igneous 
spark.  At  the  High  Falls,  and  so  on  to  the  Rocky 
Heart,  the  upper  strata  arc  from  a  foot  to  eighteen 
inches  thick  ;  are  composed  of  crystallized  fragments 
of  the  vertebrae  of  Crinoidea,  and  of  the  shells  of 
Terebratulee,  which  make  excellent  lime  for  plaster 
ing.  Now  and  then  a  stratum  of  this  character  is 
found  a  hundred  feet  below  the  surface.  There  is 
a  singular  instance  of  this  at  the  first  projection,  in 
a  very  thick  stratum,  the  upper  half  of  which  is  the 


40  TRENTON   FALLS 

compact  blue  fetid,  without  any  seam  or  mark  of 
stratification  between. 

In  general,  the  strata  through  the  chasm  are  re 
markably  horizontal,  from  one  to  eighteen  inches 
thick.  At  Boon's  Bridge,  they  dip  to  the  south 
fifteen  or  twenty  degrees.  At  the  High  Falls  is  a 
very  irregular  mass,  which  has  no  other  character 
than  disorder,  in  the  midst  of  which  lies  horizontally 
a  curious  specimen  of  semicircular  strata  of  the 
usual  thickness,  the  one  within  the  other,  and  the 
diameter  of  the  outside  about  two  feet. 

The  strata  in  this  chasm  are  very  distinct,  the 
whole  distance  up  the  walls  being  separated  by  a 
fine  substance  which  disintegrates  on  exposure  to 
the  air  and  moisture.  In  the  rocks  newly  blasted 
this  distinction  is  scarcely  discernible. 

From  the  summit  to  the  bottom  of  the  chasm 
small  cracks  or  seams  extend  down  perpendicularly, 
and  in  a  perfectly  straight  line  through  the  whole 
mass  across  the  creek.  These  cracks  divide  the 
pavements  into  rhomboidal  slabs,  between  which 
pebbles  are  first  inserted,  gradually  separating  one 
stratum  from  another,  and  thus  preparing  the  slabs 
to  be  upturned  and  carried  off  by  freshets.  Some 
of  the  cracks  separate  the  whole  mass  of  rock,  and 


ILLUSTRATED.  41 

the  opening  widens  with  the  depth.  These  are  filled 
with  the  calcspar,  from  one-tenth  of  an  inch  to  two 
inches  thick.  In  the  middle  of  the  calcspar  there  is 
a  dark  line,  which  shows  that  the  crystallization  has 
been  equally  formed  on  each  side.  Calcspar  is  also 
found  in  a  horizontal  sheet,  separating  the  superin 
cumbent  from  the  stratum  underneath.  Conse 
quently,  these  sheets  of  calcspar  cut  each  other. 
But  whether  the  horizontal  sheets  extend  through 
the  whole  mass,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain. 


These  rocks  abound  in  petrifactions,  or  what  are 
styled  fossil  organic  remains.  They  are  sometimes 
cut  by  the  cracks  or  seams  above  mentioned.  These 
cracks  must,  of  course,  have  been  subsequent  to  the 
petrifaction  of  the  fossil  forms  ;  and,  indeed,  sub- 


42  TRENTON    FALLS 

sequent  to  the  completion  of  the  whole  mass  of 
strata. 

It  would  be  useless  to  go  into  a  detail  of  all  the 
different  genera  and  species  of  the  fossils  here,  see 
ing  the  investigations  of  Oryctologists  have  resulted 
in  this,  that  the  same  order  and  character  of  rock 
throughout  the  world  contains  the  very  same  organic 
remains. 

The  most  interesting  petrifaction  in  this  locality 
is  the  large  Trilobite ;  entire  specimens  of  Avhich 
(for  their  extraction  entire  is  extremely  difficult) 
have,  so  far  as  I  know,  been  nowhere  else  obtained, 
either  in  Europe  or  America.  Its  generic  name, 
first  given  by  Dr.  Dekay,  of  New  York,  is  the 
"  Isotelas  Gigas."  It  is  minutely  described  by  this 
distinguished  naturalist,  from  specimens  which  I 
exhibited  to  the  Lyceum  in  that  city.  To  his  de 
scription,  published  in  the  sixth  number  of  the  An 
nals  of  the  Lyceum,  may  be  added,  that  seeing  the 
dorsal  slips,  or  of  the  lobes,  terminate  at  the  side 
like  Indian  paddles,  the  animal  could  swim  ;  and 
these  slips  being  not  only  movable,  but  crustaceous, 
it  could  also  crawl  on  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  Here 
are  small  Trilobites  of  different  genus :  Ortho- 
ceratites,  both  large  and  small,  of  different  genera 


ILLUSTRATED.  43 


and  species  ;  Favosites,  Nautili,  Terebratulce,  Pro- 
ducti,  Lingula,  Mitiloidea,  Cornu  Ammonis,  Crinoi- 
dea,  Connularia  Quadrisulcata,  and  several  others, 
both  univalves  and  bivalves.  Some  Orthoceratites 
of  the  simplest  form  (i.  e.  real  straight  horns,  perfect 
cones  ;  the  shell,  from  the  middle  to  the  point,  hollow 
or  vacant  in  all  its  chambers)  are  pyritous ;  some 
filled  (in  the  hollow  part)  with  calcspar  and  quartz 
crystals  in  contact ;  some  of  the  quartz  crystals  con 
taining  graphite ;  the  crystallized  spar  is  white,  black, 
yellow,  smoky  brown  ;  and  the  crystals  of  these  dif 
ferent  colors  are  sometimes  found  in  the  same  speci 
men. 

I  have  hazarded  to  several  the  novel  conjecture, 
that  the  Favosite  (found  here  in  the  greatest  abun 
dance,  from  one-eighth  of  an  inch  to  six  inches  in 
diameter  at  the  base,  and  from  two  to  nine  super 
structures,  some  containing  six  or  eight  hundred 


44  TRENTON    FALLS 


thousand  columns)  is  a  miniature  exemplification  of 
Columnar  Basaltes  at  the  Giant's  Causeway,  and 
other  places ;  which,  if  my  conjecture  is  correct, 
must  have  been  the  production  of  a  gigantic  order 
of  marine  antediluvian  (not  to  say  antimundane) 
Polypi.  Whether  the  substance  which  composes 
these  columnar  forms  is  lime,  silex,  basalt,  or  other 
substance,  so  exactly  do  they  correspond  to  each 
other  in  their  prominent  but  very  singular  peculiari 
ties,  that  I  am  unable  to  doubt  it.  There  is  one 
single  point  only  in  which  I  have  not  had  opportu 
nity  to  make  a  comparison,  viz. :  as  to  the  circular 
perforations  in  the  parities  of  the  cell,  by  which  the 
mass  became  one  connected  system.  I  am  not  ad 
vised  whether  any  such  thing  has  been  observed  in 
Columnar  Basaltes,  i.  e.,  in  the  prism,  or  space  of 
column  betivecn  the  articulations.  The  hollow  spe- 


ILLUSTRATED.  45 

cimens,  or  the  weather-worn  summits,  are  those 
alone  where  we  are  authorized  to  expect  this  dem 
onstration,  and  where,  in  view  of  the  entire  corre 
spondence  in  every  particular,  I  have  no  doubt  it 
can  and  will  be  found.  It  would  be  a  miracle  in 
nature  that  there  should  be  a  perfect  correspondence 
in  twenty  particulars,  and  yet  a  failure  in  the  last. 
The  Basaltic  columns  must,  of  course,  be  mammoth 
Favosites. 

The  most  pleasant  time  of  the  day  to  visit  these 
Falls  is  after  dinner,  about  four  o'clock,  when  the 
bank  on  the  left  casts  its  shade  over  the  path,  and 
shields  from  the  sun's  scorching  rays.  But  this 
time  can  be  taken  only  by  those  who  do  not  leave 
the  place  the  same  day  ;  and  the  remark  does  not 
apply  when  it  is  cloudy  weather. 

There  is  quite  a  variety  of  flowers  and  botanical 
specimens  upon  the  bank ;  and  the  rock  in  the 
chasm,  all  along  up  the  High  Falls,  abounds  with  the 
beautiful  blue  hare-bell  of  Scotland. 

Trout  were  formerly  very  abundant  in  this  creek, 
but  have  now  become  exceedingly  scarce ;  so  that 
there  is  very  little  encouragement  for  the  fishing 
party.  Eels,  in  the  forepart  of  the  season,  are  still 
abundant.  The  ocean  does  not  produce  better. 


40  TRENTON    FALLS 

They  often  weigh  from  two  to  four  pounds,  and 
more  delicious  were  never  served  up  at  the  table  of 
an  epicure. 

Game,  also,  is  scarce.  In  some  seasons,  however, 
partridges,  snipes,  wild  ducks,  the  large  gray  and 
black  squirrel,  the  woodcock,  and  the  rabbit  may  be 
taken. 

No  venomous  snakes  haunt  this  neighborhood, 
nor  any  beasts  of  prey.  The  deer  sometimes  come 
from  the  north  to  visit  these  Falls,  and  occasionally 
the  moose  ;  but  neither  bears,  nor  wolves,  nor  cata 
mounts  ever  make  their  appearance. 

Ladies  should,  by  all  means,  come  furnished  with 
calf-skin   shoes  or  bootees.     Let  them  not 
forget  this.     They  not  only  owe  it  to 
their  health,  but  the  best  pair  of  cloth 
shoes  will  be  ruined  by  a  single 
tramp  over  these  rocks. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


47 


N  a  story  called  "  EDITH  LINS^.Y," 
written  soon  after  the  author  left  Col 
lege,  occurs  the  following  description 
of  Trenton  Falls  : 

Trenton  Falls  is  rather  a  misnomer.  I 
scarcely  know  what  you  would  call  it ;  but 
the  wonder  of  nature  which  bears  the  name  is  a  tre 
mendous  torrent,  whose  bed,  for  several  miles,  is 
sunk  fathoms  deep  into  the  earth — a  roaring  and 
dashing  stream,  so  far  below  the  surface  of  the  for 
est  in  which  it  is  lost,  that  you  would  think,  as  you 
come  suddenly  upon  the  edge  of  its  long  precipice, 
that  it  was  a  river  in  some  inner  world,  (coiled 
within  ours,  as  we  in  the  outer  circle  of  the  firma 
ment,)  and  laid  open  by  some  Titanic  throe  that  had 
cracked  clear  asunder  the  crust  of  this  "  shallow 


48  TRENTON    FALLS 

earth."  The  idea  is  rather  assisted  if  you  happen 
to  see  below  you,  on  its  abysmal  shore,  a  party  of 
adventurous  travellers ;  for,  at  that  vast  depth,  and 
in  contrast  with  the  gigantic  trees  and  rocks,  the 
same  number  of  well-shaped  pismires,  dressed  in  the 
last  fashions,  and  philandering  upon  your  parlor 
floor,  would  be  about  of  their  apparent  size  and 
distinctness. 

They  showed  me  at  Eleusis  the  well  by  which 
Proserpine  ascends  to  the  regions  of  day  on  her  an 
nual  visit  to  the  plains  of  Thessaly — but  with  the 
genius  loci  at  my  elbow  in  the  shape  of  a  Greek  girl 
as  lovely  as  Phryne,  my  memory  reverted  to  the 
bared  axle  of  the  earth  in  the  bed  of  this  American 
river,  and  I  was  persuaded,  (looking  the  while  at 
the  feroni&re  of  gold  sequins  on  the  Phidian  fore 
head  of  my  Katinka,)  that  supposing  Hades  in  the 
centre  of  the  earth,  you  are  nearer  to  it,  by  some 
fathoms,  at  Trenton.  I  confess  I  have  had,  since 
my  first  descent  into  those  depths,  an  uncomforta 
ble  doubt  of  the  solidity  of  the  globe — how  the 
deuse  it  can  hold  together  with  such  a  crack  in  its 
bottom ! 

It  was  a  night  to  play  Endymion,  or  do  any  Tom 
foolery  that  could  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  moon, 


; 

ILLUSTRATED.  49 

for  a  more  omnipresent  and  radiant  atmosphere  of 
moonlight  never  sprinkled  the  wilderness  with  sil 
ver.  It  was  a  night  in  which  to  wish  it  might  never 
be  day  again — a  night  to  be  enamored  of  the  stars, 
and  bid  God  bless  them  like  human  creatures  on 
their  bright  journey — a  night  to  love  in,  to  dissolve 
in — to  do  every  thing  but  what  night  is  made  for — 
sleep  !  Oh  heaven  !  when  I  think  how  precious  is 
life  in  such  moments ;  how  the  aroma — the  celestial 
bloom  and  flower  of  the  soul — the  yearning  and 
fast-perishing  enthusiasm  of  youth — waste  them 
selves  in  the  solitude  of  such  nights  on  the  senseless 
and  imanswering  air ;  when  I  wander  alone,  unlov 
ing  and  unloved,  beneath  influences  that  could  in 
spire  me  with  the  elevation  of  a  seraph,  were  I  at 
the  ear  of  a  human  creature  that  could  summon 
forth  and  measure  my  limitless  capacity  of  devotion 
— when  I  think  this,  and  feel  this,  and  so  waste  my 
existence  in  vain  yearnings — I  could  extinguish  the 
divine  spark  within  me  like  a  lamp  on  an  unvisited 
shrine,  and  thank  Heaven  for  an  assimilation  to  the 
animals  I  walk  among !  And  that  is  the  substance 
of  a  speech  I  made  to  Job  as  a  sequitur  of  a  well- 
meant  remark  of  his  own,  that  "  it  was  a  pity  Edith 
Linsey  was  not  there."  He  took  the  clause  about 

4 


TRENTON    FALLS 


the  "  animals"  to  himself,  and  I  made  an  apology 
for  the  same  a  year  after.  We  sometimes  give  our 
friends,  quite  innocently,  such  terrible  knocks  in  our 
rhapsodies ! 

Most  people  talk  of  the  sublimity  of  Trenton,  but 
I  have  haunted  it  by  the  week  together  for  its  mere 
loveliness.  The  river,  in  the  heart  of  that  fearful 
chasm,  is  the  most  varied  and  beautiful  assemblage 
of  the  thousand  forms  and  shapes  of  running  water 
that  I  know  in  the  world.  The  soil  and  the  deep- 
striking  roots  of  the  forest  terminate  far  above  you, 
looking  like  a  black  rim  on  the  enclosing  precipices  ; 
the  bed  of  the  river  and  its  sky-sustaining  walls  are 
of  solid  rock,  and,  with  the  tremendous  descent  of 
the  stream — forming  for  miles  one  continuous  suc 
cession  of  falls  and  rapids — the  channel  is  worn  into 
curves  and  cavities  which  throw  the  clear  waters 
into  forms  of  inconceivable  brilliancy  and  variety. 
It  is  a  sort  of  half  twilight  below,  with  here  and 
there  a  long  beam  of  sunshine  reaching  down  to  kiss 
the  lip  of  an  eddy,  or  form  a  rainbow  over  a  fall, 
and  the  reverbeiating  and  changing  echoes, 

"Like  a  ring  of  bells  whose  sound  the  wind  still  alters," 
maintain  a  constant  and  most  soothing  music,  vary- 


ILLUSTRATED.  51 

ing  at  every  step  with  the  varying  phase  of  the  cur 
rent.  Cascades  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet,  over 
which  the  river  flies  with  a  single  and  hurrying  leap, 
(not  a  drop  missing  from  the  glassy  and  bending 
sheet,)  occur  frequently  as  you  ascend ;  and  it  is 
from  these  that  the  place  takes  its  name.  But  the 
Falls,  though  beautiful,  are  only  peculiar  from  the 
dazzling  and  unequalled  rapidity  with  which  the  wa 
ters  come  to  the  leap.  If  it  were  not  for  the  leaf 
which  drops  wavering  down  into  the  abysm  from 
trees  apparently  painted  on  the  sky,  and  which  is 
caught  away  by  the  flashing  current  as  if  the  light 
ning  had  suddenly  crossed  it,  you  would  think  the 
vault  of  the  steadfast  heavens  a  flying  element  as 
soon.  The  spot  in  that  long  gulf  of  beauty  that  I 
best  remember  is  a  smooth  descent  of  some  hundred 
yards,  where  the  river  in  full  and  undivided  volume 
skims  over  a  plane  as  polished  as  a  table  of  scaglio- 
la,  looking,  in  its  invisible  speed,  like  one  mirror  of 
gleaming  but  motionless  crystal.  Just  above,  there 
is  a  sudden  turn  in  the  glen,  which  sends  the  water 
like  a  catapult  against  the  opposite  angle  of  the  rock, 
and,  in  the  action  of  years,  it  has  worn  out  a  cavern 
of  unknown  depth,  into  which  the  whole  mass  of 
the  river  plunges  with  the  abandonment  of  a  flying 


52  TRENTON    FALLS 

fiend  into  hell,  and  reappearing  like  the  angel  that 
has  pursued  him.  glides  swiftly,  but  with  divine  se 
renity,  on  its  way.  (I  am  indebted  for  that  last  figure 
to  Job,  who  travelled  with  a  Milton  in  his  pocket, 
and  had  a  natural  redolence  of  "  Paradise  Lost"  in 
his  conversation.) 

Much  as  I  detest  water  in  small  quantities,  (to 
drink,)  I  have  a  hydromania  in  the  way  of  lakes, 
rivers,  and  waterfalls.  It  is,  by  much,  the  belle  in 
the  family  of  the  elements.  Earth  is  never  tolera 
ble  unless  disguised  in  green.  Air  is  so  thin  as  only 
to  be  visible  when  she  borrows  drapery  of  water ; 
and  Fire  is  so  staringly  bright  as  to  be  unpleasant 
to  the  eyesight ;  but  water !  soft,  pure,  graceful 
water !  there  is  no  shape  into  which  you  can  throw 
her  that  she  does  not  seem  lovelier  than  before. 
She  can  borrow  nothing  of  her  sisters.  Earth  has 
no  jewels  in  her  lap  so  brilliant  as  her  own  spray- 
pearls  and  emeralds  ;  Fire  has  no  rubies  like  what 
she  steals  from  the  sunset ;  Air  has  no  robes  like 
the  grace  of  her  fine-woven  and  ever-changing  dra 
pery  of  silver.  A  health  (in  wine  !)  to  WATER  ! 

Who  is  there  that  did  not  love  some  stream  in  his 
youth  ?  Who  is  there  in  whose  vision  of  the  past 
there  does  not  sparkle  up,  from  every  picture  of 


ILLUSTRATED. 


53 


childhood,  a  spring  or  a  rivulet  woven  through  the 
darkened  and  torn  woof  of  first  affections  like  a 
thread  of  unchanged  silver  ?  How  do  you  interpret 
the  instinctive  yearning  with  which  you  search  for 
the  river-side  or  the  fountain  in  every  scene  of  na 
ture — the  clinging  unaware  to  the  river's  course 
when  a  truant  in  the  fields  in 
June — the  dull  void  you  find  in 
every  landscape  of  which  it  is 
not  the  ornament  and  the  cen 
tre  ?  For  myself,  I  hold  with 
the  Greek  :  "  Water  is  the  first 
principle  of  all  things  :  we  were 
made  from  it,  and  we  shall  be 
resolved  into  it." 


TRENTON    FALLS 


scription : 


F  subsequent  visits  to  this  loveliest 
of  spots,  years  after,  the  following 
extracts  from  letters  addressed  to 
the  author's  partner  in  the  editor 
ship  of  the  Home  Journal,  give  de- 


— IN  the  long  cor 
ridor  of  travel  be 
tween  New  York  and  Niaga 
ra,  this  place,  as  you  know,  is  a  sort 
of  alcove  aside — a  side-scene  out  of  earshot  of  the 
crowd — a  recess  in  a  window  whither  you  draw  a 
friend  by  the  button  for  the  sake  of  chit-chat  at  ease. 
It  is  fifteen  miles  off  at  right  angles  from  the  gen 
eral  procession,  and  must  be  done  in  vehicle  hired 
at  Utica  for  the  purpose  ;  so  that,  costing  more  time 
and  money  than  a  hundred  miles  in  any  other  direc 
tion,  it  is  voted  a  "  don't-pay"  by  promiscuous  trav 
ellers,  and  its  frequentation  sifted  accordingly.  In 


ILLUSTRATED.  55 

gossiping  with  you  about  Trenton,  therefore,  I  shall 
do  it  with  cozy  pen,  the  crowd  out  of  the  way,  and 
we  two  snug  and  confidential.  And  as  poets  and 
"  literary  men"  are  never  poetical  and  literary  for 
their  own  amusement,  you  will  expect  no  "  fine- wri 
ting,"  and  none  but  a  spontaneous  mention  of  the 
moon. 

For  the  heavy  price  of  two  subscribers  and  a  half 
(explained  by  the  editor  to  mean  five  dollars)  I  was 
not  driven  fast  enough  hither  to  clear  the  dust,  met 
aphorically  nor  otherwise.  I  should  recommend  to 
you,  or  to  any  who  come  after,  to  include  in  the 
bargain  for  a  conveyance,  the  time  in  which  the 
distance  is  to  be  done.  It  is  a  ride  of  no  particular 
interest.  With  no  intimation  whatever  of  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  Falls,  we  were  driven  up  to  the  edge 
of  a  wood,  after  fifteen  miles  of  dust  and  rough  jolt 
ing,  and  landed  at  a  house  built  for  one  man's  wants 
and  belongings — a  house  which  the  original  forest 
still  cloaks  and  umbrellas,  leaving  only  its  front  por 
tico,  like  a  shirt- ruffle,  open  to  the  day,  and  which  I 
pray,  with  all  its  homely  inconveniences,  may  never 
be  supplanted  by  a  hotel  of  the  class  entitled  to 
keep  a  gong.  Oh,  those  chalky  universes  in  rural 
places  !  What  miles  around,  of  green  trees  and 


56 


TRENTON    FALLS 


tender   grass,   do   they 
blaze  out  of  all  recogni 
tion    with    their    unes-        ' 
capable    white-paint  aggravations  of 
^  sunshine,  and  their  stretch  of  unmiti 

gated  colonnade  !  You  may  as  well  look  at  a  star 
with  a  blazing  candle  in  your  eye,  as  enjoy  a  land 
scape  in  which  one  of  these  mountains  of  illuminated 
clapboard  sits  a-glare.  It  is  the  only  happy  allevia 
tion  of  hotels  of  this  degree,  that  they  usually  em 
ploy  a  band  during  the  summer ;  and,  for  a  slight 
consideration,  you  can  hire  the  use  of  the  long  trum 
pet  during  the  day,  and,  through  it,  look  at  some 
parts  of  the  surrounding  scenery  with  the  house 
shut  out  of  the  prospect.  Is  it  not  a  partial  legis 
lation  (apropos)  that  distinguishes  between  nose  and 
eye — protecting  the  first  against  any  offending  nui 
sance  in  public  places,  and  leaving  the  latter  and 


ILLUSTRATED.  5*7 

more  delicate  organ  to  all  the  dangers  of  ophthalmia 
by  excessive  white  house  ?  At  Sharon,  for  exam 
ple,  any  man  may  start  without  precaution  to  take 
a  walk  ;  but  a  man  who  should  turn  to  come  back 
without  a  pair  of  green  goggles  to  shield  his  eyes 
from  the  glare  of  the  hotel  as  he  approaches  it  from 
any  distance  within  three  miles,  must  have  let  in 
less  rubbish  than  I  at  those  two  complaining  gate 
ways  of  the  brain,  and  have  less  dread  of  being  left 
to  the  mercy  of  that  merest  of  all  beggars,  the  ear, 
that  can  help  itself  to  nothing.  There  are  satirists 
on  the  look-out  for  a  national  foible,  and  philanthro 
pists  on  the  look-out  for  a  hobby — will  not  some  one 
of  these  two  classes  entitle  himself  to  the  gratitude 
of  scholars,  by  writing  or  preaching  down  (or  in 
some  way  "doing  brown")  the  American  propensity 
for  white  paint — the  excessive  use  of  which,  partic 
ularly  in  this  climate  of  intense  sunshine,  is  an  eye 
sore  to  taste  as  well  as  to  overworked  optics  ? 

Mr.  Moore,  the  landlord  at  Trenton,  is  proposing 
to  build  a  larger  house  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  public,  but  this  sermon  upon  our  Mont  Blanc 
Hotels,  with  their  Dover  Cliff  porticoes,  is  not  aimed 
at  him.  On  subjects  of  taste  he  requires  no  coun 
sel.  The  engravings  a  man  hangs  up  in  his  parlors 


58  TRENTON    FALLS 

are  a  sufficient  key  to  the  degree  of  his  refinement ; 
and  those  which  are  visible  through  the  soft  demi- 
jour  of  the  apartments  in  this  shaded  retreat,  might 
all  belong  to  a  connoisseur  in  art,  and  are  a  fair  ex 
ponent  of  the  proprietor's  perception  of  the  beauti 
ful.  In  more  than  one  way  he  is  the  right  kind  of 
man  for  the  Keeper  of  this  loveliest  of  Nature's 
bailiwicks  of  scenery.  On  the  night  of  our  arrival 
I  was  lying  awake,  somewhere  towards  midnight, 
and  watching  from  my  window  the  sifting  of  moon 
light  through  the  woods  with  the  stirring  of  the 
night  air,  when  the  low  undertone  of  the  Falls  was 
suddenly  varied  with  a  strain  of  exquisite  music.  It 
seemed  scarcely  a  tune,  but,  with  the  richest  fulness 
of  volume,  one  lingering  and  dreamy  note  melted 
into  another,  as  if  it  were  the  voluntary  of  a  player 
who  unconsciously  touched  the  keys  as  an  accompa 
niment  to  his  melancholy.  What  with  the  place 
and  time,  and  my  ignorance  that  there  was  an  in 
strument  of  this  character  in  the  house,  I  was  a 
good  deal  surprised ;  but  before  making  up  my 
mind  as  to  what  it  could  be,  I  was  "  helped  over 
the  stile"  into  dreamland,  and  made  no  inquiry  till 
the  next  morning  at  breakfast.  The  player  was  our 
landlord,  Mr.  Moore,  who,  thus,  when  his  guests  are 


ILLUSTRATED.  59 

gone  to  bed,  steals  an  hour  of  leisure  from  the 
night,  and,  upon  a  fine  organ  which  stands  in  one 
of  the  inner  parlors  of  his  house,  plays  with  admira 
ble  taste  and  execution. 

In  an  introduction  of  Mr.  Moore  to  you  as  "  mine 
host,"  however,  mention  must  needs  be  made  of  his 
skill  in  an  art  meaner  than  music,  yet  far  more  es 
sential — the  art  of  pie-making  and  pudding-ry.  No 
where  (short  of  Felix's  in  the  Passage  Panorama  at 
Paris)  will  you  eat  such  delicate  and  curious  varie 
ties  of  pastry  as  at  the  hostelry  of  romantic  Trenton. 
Those  fingers  that  wander  over  the  keys  of  the  sol 
emn  organ  with  such  poetical  dreaminess,  and  turn 
over  a  zoophyte  or  trilobite  with  appreciative  cogni 
zance,  (for  he  is  a  mineralogist,  too,  and  has  col 
lected  a  curious  cabinet  of  specimens  from  the 
gorges  of  the  Falls,)  are  daily  employed  in  prepar 
ing,  for  the  promiscuous  "  sweet  tooth"  of  the  pub 
lic,  pies  worthy  of  being  confined  to  Heliogabalus 
and  the  ladies.  The  truth  is,  that,  were  human 
allotments  as  nicely  apportioned,  and  placed  in  as 
respective  an  each-other-age  as  the  ingredients  of 
Mr.  Moore's  pies,  Mr.  Moore  would  never  have 
learned  the  trade  of  a  baker.  Happy  they,  notwith 
standing,  to  whom  the  world  says,  "  Friend,  go  up 


60 


c  t 


TRENTON    FALLS 

higher !"  though  in  this  case  it  would 
be  only  in  intellectual  gradation, 
as  the  calling  of  hotel-keeper  is,  in 
our  country,  half  a  magistracy,  from 
the  importance  and  responsibility  of 
its  duties,  and  one  which  (by  pub- 
.?,  lie  consent  daily  strength 
ening)  demands  and  befits 
a  gentleman.  Mr.  Moore 
(to  finish 
his  biog- 
Lg*.  ,.  raphy,) 


came  here  twenty  years  ago,  to  enjoy  the  scenery 
of  which  he  had  heard  so  much  ;  and,  getting  a  se 
vere  fall  in  climbing  the  rocks,  was  for  some  time 
confined  to  his  bed  at  the  hotel,  then  kept  by  Mr. 
Sherman,  of  trout-fishing  memory.  The  kind  care 
with  which  he  was  treated  resulted  in  an  attachment 
for  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  family,  his  present 
wife ;  he  came  back,  wedded  his  fair  nurse  and 
Trenton  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  is  now  the 


ILLUSTRATED.  61 

owner  and  host  of  the  very  loveliest  scenery-haunt 
in  all  our  picturesque  country.  . 

Of  course  you  are  impatient  for  me  and  my  pen 
to  get  to  the  Falls — but  that  deep-down  autopsy  of 
Nature,  with  its  disembowellings  of  strata  laid  down 
before  the  time  of  Adam,  (according  to  Professor 
Agassiz,)  is  a  solemn  place  and  topic,  and  I  must 
talk  of  such  trifles  as  modern  men  and  their  abiding- 
places,  while  my  theme  dates  from  this  side  of  the 
Deluge.  I  am  not  so  sure  that  I  shall  say  any 
thing  about  the  Falls  in  this  letter.  Let  me  see, 
first,  what  else  I  have  to  tell  you  of  the  manner  of 
life  at  the  Hotel. 

As  I  said  before,  the  company  of  strangers  at 
Trenton  is  made  somewhat  select,  by  the  expense 
and  difficulty  of  access.  Most,  who  come,  stay  two 
or  three  days,  but  there  are  usually  boarders  here 
for  a  longer  time  ;  and,  at  present,  three  or  four 
families  of  most  cultivated  and  charming  people, 
who  form  a  nucleus  of  agreeable  society  to  which 
any  attractive  transient  visitor  easily  attaches  an 
acquaintance.  Nothing  could  well  be  more  agreea 
ble  than  the  footing  upon  which  these  chance-met 
residents  and  their  daily  accessions  of  new  comers 
pass  their  evenings  and  take  strolls  up  the  ravine 


62 


TRENTON    FALLS 


together ;    and,    for    those    ^^ .-, 
who  love  country  air  and 
romantic   rambles  without 
"  dressing  for  dinner,"   or 
waltzing  by  a  band,  this  is 
a  "place  to  stay."     These 
are  not  the  most  numerous  fre 
quenters  of  Trenton,  however.    It 
is  a  very  popular  place  of 
4       resort  from  ev-    . 


ery  village  within  thirty  miles  ;  and  from  ten  in 
the  morning  till  four  in  the  afternoon,  there  is  gay 
work  with  the  country-girls  and  their  beaux — swing 
ing  under  the  trees,  strolling  about  in  the  woods 
near  the  house,  bowling,  singing,  and  dancing — at 
all  of  which  (owing,  perhaps,  to  a  certain  gipsy-ish 
promiscuosity  of  my  nature  that  I  never  could  aris- 
tocrify  by  the  keeping  of  better  company)  I  am 


ILLUSTRATED.  63 

delighted  to  be  at  least  a  looker-on.  The  average 
number  of  these  visitors  from  the  neighborhood  is 
forty  or  fifty  a  day,  so  that  breakfast  and  tea  are  the 
nearest  approach  to  "dress  meals" — the  dinner, 
though  profuse  and  dainty  in  its  fare,  being  eaten  in 
what  is  commonly  thought  to  be  rather  "  mixed  so 
ciety."  I  am  inclined  to  think  that,  from  French 
intermixture,  or  some  other  cause,  the  inhabitants 
of  this  region  are  a  little  peculiar  in  their  manners. 
There  is  an  unconsciousness  or  carelessness  of  others' 
observation  and  presence,  that  I  have,  hitherto,  only 
seen  abroad.  We  have  had  songs,  duetts,  and  cho 
ruses  sung  here  by  village  girls,  within  the  last  few 
days,  in  a  style  that  drew  all  in  the  house  to  listen 
very  admiringly ;  and  even  the  ladies  all  agree  that 
there  have  been  extremely  pretty  girls,  day  after 
day,  among  them.  I  find  they  are  Fourierites  to 
the  extent  of  common  hair-brush  and  other  personal 
furniture — walking  into  anybody's  room  in  the  house 
for  the  temporary  repairs  which  belles  require  on 
their  travels,  and  availing  themselves  of  whatever 
was  therein,  with  a  simplicity  perhaps  a  little  trans 
cendental.  I  had  obtained  the  extra  privilege,  for 
myself,  of  a  small  dressing-room  apart,  in  which  I 
presumed  the  various  trowsers  and  other  merely 


64  TRENTON    FALLS 

masculine  belongings  would  be  protective  scarecrow 
sufficient  to  keep  out  these  daily  female  invaders ; 
but,  walking  in  yesterday,  I  found  my  combs  and 
brushes  in  active  employ,  and  two  very  tidy-looking 
girls  making  themselves  at  home  without  shutting 
the  door,  and  no  more  disturbed  by  my  entree  than 
if  I  had  been  a  large  male  fly.  As  friends  were 
waiting,  I  apologized  for  intruding  long  enough  to 
take  a  pair  of  boots  from  under  their  protection,  but 
my  presence  was  evidently  no  interruption.  One  of 
the  girls  (a  tall  figure,  like  a  woman  in  two  sylla 
bles  connected  by  a  hyphen  at  the  waist)  continued 
to  look  at  the  back  of  her  dress  in  the  (/lass,  a  la 
Venus  Callipige,  and  the  other  went  on  threading 
her  most  prodigal  chevelure  with  my  doubtless  very 
embarrassed  though  unresisting  hair-brush,  and  so 
I  abandoned  the  field,  as  I  was  of  course  expected 
to  do.  As  they  did  not  shut  the  door  after  my  re 
treat,  I  presume  that,  by  the  code  of  morals  and 
manners  hereabouts,  a  man's  preoccupancy  of  a 
room  simply  entitles  him  to  come  and  go  at  pleas 
ure — the  unoccupied  portions  and  conveniences  of 
the  apartment  open,  meantime,  to  feminine  avail- 
ment  and  partaking.  I  do  not  know  that  they 
would  go  the  length  of  "  fraternizing"  one's  tooth- 


ILLUSTRATED.  65 

brush,  but,  with  the  exception  of  locking  up  that 
rather  confidential  article,  I  give  in  to  the  customs 
of  the  country,  and  have  ever  since  left  open  door 
to  the  ladies — which  "severe  trial"  please  mention, 
if  convenient,  in  my  biography. 

If  you  have  ever  "  sung  in  the  choir,"  my  dear 
General,  you  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  stop  before 
the  organ  leaves  off,  and,  with  the  sound  of  running 
water,  which  is  the  eternal  accompaniment  here,  I 
find  one  keeps  doing  whatever  one  is  about — drink 
ing  tea  or  drizzling  ink — with  pertinacious  contin 
uance.  Hence  this  very  long  letter.  The  atmo 
sphere  seems  otherwise  favorable  to  writing,  how 
ever,  for  the  front  of  the  house  is  covered  with 
inscriptions  of  wit  and  sentiment — and  with  one  spe 
cimen  of  each  I  will  make  an  effort  to  taper  off  into 
an  adieu.  In  a  neat  hand,  one  gentleman  writes, 
alongside  of  the  front  door — 

"  Here  we  are,  as  you  discover, 
And  now  we  part  forever  and  ever." 

Farther  off  to  the  left,  between  two  blinds,  a  man 
records  the  arrival  of  himself  "  and  servant"  below 
which  is  the  following  inscription  : 

"  G.  Squires,  wife,  and  two  babies.  No  servant, 
owing  to  the  hardness  of  the  times." 


66  TRENTON    FALLS 

And  under  this,  again  : 

"  G.  W.  Douglas  and  servant.  No  wife  and  ba 
bies,  owing  to  the  hardness  of  the  times." 

With  this  instructive  example  of  selective  econo 
my,  I  call  your  admiring  attention  to  the  forbear- 
ingly  practical  character  of  this  letter,  written  at 
Trenton  and  in  the  full  of  the  moon,  and  remain,  my 
dear  Morris, 

Yours,  &c. 


NE  of  the  most  embarrassing  of  di 
lemmas,  my  dear  Morris,  in  address- 
ino-  either  talk  or  letter  to  a  man,  is 

& 

not  to  know  the  amount  of  his  infor 
mation  on  the  subject  in  hand.  I 
am  to  write  to  you  from  Trenton — a 
place  of  romantic  scenery  and  gay 
resort,  and  easy  enough  to  gossip 
about,  if  that  were  all.  But  it  is, 
besides,  the  spot  where  prostrate  Mother  Earth  has 
been  cleft  open,  to  the  spine,  more  neatly  than  any- 


ILLUSTRATED. 


67 


where  else,  and  where  the 
"^  deposits  on  the  edges  of 
her  ribs  show  what  she 
had  to  digest,  for  centuries  before 
the  creation  of  man.  Here  I  am, 
therefore,  in  this  shirt-sleeve  sum 
mer  noon — as  full  of  wonder  and  of 
impressions  of  beauty  as  my  poor  brain- 
jug  can  any  way  hold  without  spilling — but,  q  very 
before  I  pour  out : — how  much  knowledge  of  the 
spot  have  you  drank  already,  and  do  you  want  the 
dregs  at  the  bottom,  or  only  the  bubble  at  the  brim  ? 
At  what  definite  point  of  time  (within  a  century  or 
so)  shall  we  take  up  the  news  of  this  watering- 
place,  whose  book  of  arrivals  (legible  at  this  mo 
ment  by  the  geologist)  extends  back  to,  certainly, 
long  before  the  planting  of  the  forbidden  tree,  and, 
possibly,  to  a  date  anterior  to  the  fall  of  Lucifer  ? 
America  (Agassiz  and  other  men  of  science  now 
agree)  was  stocked  and  planted  long  before  the 
emergence  of  Europe  and  Asia  from  the  bed  of  the 


68  TRENTON    FALLS 

ocean.  It  was  an  old  continent  when  Eden  first 
came  to  light ;  and  if  Adam's  early  education  had 
not  been  neglected,  he  would  probably  have  made 
the  tour  of  the  United  States,  (then  "the  old  coun 
try,")  and  taken  Trenton  in  his  way.  Now,  my 
Morris,  where  shall  we  strike  in,  to  the  long  line  of 
customers  at  this  pleasant  place  ?  Shall  I  talk  to 
you  of  the  trilobites  and  zoophytes  who  came  here 
a  quarter  of  an  eternity  ago,  or  of  the  French  baron 
and  the  son  of  an  English  statesman,  who  arrived 
here  to-day,  Aug.  10,  1848  ?  Will  you  have  Tren 
ton  shown  up  in  Adam  and  Eve's  time,  or  in  the 
time  of  Baron  de  Trobriand  and  Mr.  Stanley  ?  Of 
this  long-established  theatre  of  Nature,  shall  I  para 
graph  the  "  stock  company"  or  the  "  stars  ?" — the 
fossil  remains  of  time  out  of  mind,  or  the  belles  and 
beaux  who,  at  this  particular  moment  of  forever  and 
ever,  arc  flirting  away  the  noon  upon  the  portico  ? 
If  we  could  "  vote  in"  our  own  fossil  representatives, 
by  the  way — choose  the  specimens  of  our  race,  I 
mean,  who  are  to  be  dug  out  and  admired  in  future 
ages — there  is  a  bride  among  the  company  below, 
whose  election  would,  I  think,  be  unanimous,  and 
whose  form  (if  petrified  in  marble  without  a  flaw, 
and  brought  to  light  a  thousand  years  hence  as  a 


ILLUSTRATED.  69 

zoolite  of  the  eighteenth  century)  would  assuredly 
make  those  unborn  geologists  sigh  not  to  have  lived 

in  our  days  of  woman.  She  is  indeed  a  ch 

but  for  further  particulars  see  postscript. 

I  was  here  twenty  years  ago,  but  the  fairest  things 
slip  easiest  out  of  the  memory,  and  I  had  half  for 
gotten  Trenton.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  was  a  little 
ashamed  to  compare  the  faded  and  shabby  picture 
of  it  in  my  mind  with  the  reality  before  me  ;  and  if 
the  waters  of  the  Falls  had  been,  by  any  likelihood, 
the  same  that  flowed  over  when  I  was  here  be 
fore,  I  should  have  looked  them  in  the  face,  I  think, 
with  something  of  the  embarrassment  with  which 
one  meets,  half-rememberingly,  after  years  of  sepa 
ration,  the  ladies  one  has  vowed  to  love  forever. 
How  is  it  with  you,  my  dear  Morris?  Have  you, 
as  a  general  thing,  been  constant  to  waterfalls,  <fec., 
<fec.,  &c.  ? 

The  peculiarity  of  Trenton  Falls,  I  fancy,  consists 
a  good  deal  in  the  space  in  which  you  are  compelled 
to  see  them.  You  walk  a  few  steps  from  the  hotel, 
through  the  wood,  and  come  to  a  descending  stair 
case  of  a  hundred  steps,  the  different  bends  of  which 
are  so  overgrown  with  wild  shrubbery,  that  you 
cannot  see  the  ravine  till  you  are  fairly  down  upon 


70  TRENTON    FALLS 

its  rocky  floor.  Your  path  hence,  up  to  the  first 
Fall,  is  along  a  ledge  cut  out  of  the  base  of  the  cliff 
that  overhangs  the  torrent ;  and  when  you  get  to 
the  foot  of  the  descending  sheet,  you  find  yourself 
in  very  close  quarters  with  a  cataract — rocky  walls 
all  round  you — and  the  appreciation  of  power  and 
magnitude,  perhaps,  somewhat  heightened  by  the 
confinement  of  the  place — as  a  man  would  have  a 
much  more  realizing  sense  of  a  live  lion,  shut  up 
with  him  in  a  basement  parlor,  than  he  would  of  the 
same  object  seen  from  an  elevated  and  distant  point 
of  view. 

The  usual  walk  (through  this  deep  cave  open  at 
the  top)  is  about  half  a  mile  in  length,  and  its  al 
most  subterranean  river,  in  that  distance,  plunges 
over  four  precipices  in  exceedingly  beautiful  cas 
cades.  On  the  successive  rocky  terraces  between 
the  Falls,  the  torrent  takes  every  variety  of  rapids 
and  whirlpools  ;  and,  perhaps,  in  all  the  scenery  of 
the  Avorld,  there  is  no  river,  which,  in  the  same 
space,  presents  so  many  of  the  various  shapes  and 
beauties  of  running  and  falling  water.  The  Indian 
name  of  the  stream  (the  Kanata,  which  means  the 
amber  river]  expresses  one  of  its  peculiarities,  and, 
probably  from  the  depth  of  shade  cast  by  the  two 


ILLUSTRATED.  71 

dark  and  overhanging  walls  'twixt  which  it  flows, 
the  water  is  everywhere  of  a  peculiarly  rich  lustre 
and  color,  and,  in  the  edges  of  one  or  two  of  the 
cascades,  as  yellow  as  gold.  Artists,  in  drawing  this 
river,  fail,  somehow,  in  giving  the  impression  of  deep- 
down-itude  which  is  produced  by  the  close  approach 
of  the  two  lofty  walls  of  rock,  capped  by  the  over- 
leaning  woods,  and  with  the  sky  apparently  resting, 
like  a  ceiling,  upon  the  leafy  architraves.  It  con 
veys,  somehow,  the  effect  of  a  s'«6fe/-natural  river — 
on  a  different  level,  altogether,  from  our  common 
and  above-ground  water-courses.  If  there  were 
truly,  as  the  poets  say  figuratively,  "  worlds  within 
worlds,"  this  would  look  as  if  an  earthquake  had 
cracked  open  the  outer  globe,  and  exposed,  through 
the  yawning  fissure,  one  of  the  rivers  of  the  globe 
below — the  usual  under-ground  level  of  "down 
among  the  dead  men"  being,  as  you  walk  upon  its 
banks,  between  you  and  the  daylight. 

Considering  the  amount  of  surprise  and  pleasure 
which  one  feels  in  a  walk  up  the  ravine  at  Trenton, 
it  is  remarkable  how  little  one  finds  to  say  about  it, 
the  day  after.  Is  it  that  mere  scenery,  without  his 
tory,  is  enjoyable  without  being  suggestive,  or,  amid 
the  tumult  of  the  rushing  torrent  at  one's  feet,  is  the 


72  TRENTON    FALLS 

milk  of  thought  too  much  agitated  for  the  cream  to 
rise  ?  I  fancied  yesterday,  as  I  rested  on  the  soft 
est  rock  I  could  find  at  the  upper  end  of  the  ravine, 
that  I  should  tumble  you  out  a  letter  to-day,  with 
the  ideas  pitching  forth  like  saw-logs  over  a  water 
fall  ;  but  my  memory  has  nothing  in  it  to-day  but 
the  rocks  and  rapids  it  took  in — the  talent  wrapped 
in  its  napkin  of  delight  remaining  in  unimproved 
statu-qtio-sity.  One  certainly  gets  the  impression, 
while  the  sight  and  hearing  are  so  overwhelmed, 
that  one's  mind  is  famously  at  work,  and  that  we 
shall  hear  from  it  to-morrow ;  but  it  is  Jean  Paul,  I 
think,  who  says  that  "the  mill  makes  the  most 
noise  when  there  is  no  grist  in  the  hopper."  I  have 
a  couple  more  days  to  stay  here,  however,  and, 
meantime,  I  will  leave  these  first  impressions  in  in 
cubation.  Look  for  one  more  letter  from  Trenton, 
therefore,  for  which  I  will  borrow  an  hour  or  two  on 
the  morning  of  leaving. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


ft 


HAT  wry  "  American  swallow," 
which,  the  zoologists  tell  us,  "  de 
vours  fifteen  hundred  caterpillars  a 
week,  and  performs  every  action  on 
the  wing  except  incubation  and  sleeping," 
should  establish  a  depot  for  the  sale  of 
his  feathers — for  with  the  quill  of  no 
slower  bird  can  a  man  comfortably  write,  in  the  act 
of  mental  digestion  and  during  bodily  travel.  If 
you  find  my  style  jerk-y  and  abrupt,  and  my  ad 
joining  chambers  of  thought,  as  they  say  in  conch- 
ology,  without  "  the  connecting  siphuncle"  which 
should  make  the  transition  as  velvet-y  to  the  read 
er's  foot  as  the  carpet  from  a  boudoir  to  a  lady's 
chamber,  let  the  defects  rather  make  you  wonder 
that  I  wrote  at  all  than  that  I  wrote  no  better.  To 
feel,  and  tell  of  it  while  you  feel,  is,  (besides,)  as 
lovers  and  writers  alike  know,  very  difficult  busi 
ness — notwithstanding  Shakspeare's  doctrine  that 
"  every  time  serves  for  the  matter  that  is  then  born 
in  it."  And  so  for  another  of  those  fatal  too-quick- 


74  TRENTON    FALLS 

ities,  for  all  manner  of  which,  it  seems  to  me,  life  is 
full  of  irresistible  inducement. 

It  is  not  often,  my  dear  Morris,  that  we  have 
found  occasion  to  complain  of  woman's  performance 
of  her  part  as  the  sex  ornamental.  In  most  times 
and  places,  she  refreshingly  varies  the  dulness  of 
the  picture  of  life,  dressing  for  her  place  as  appro 
priately  as  do  the  lilies  and  roses,  and  deserving, 
like  them,  (of  course,)  to  toil  not,  neither  should  she 
spin.  To  be  ornamental  is  to  be  useful  enough. 
Charmingly  as  women  become  most  situations  in 
which  we  see  them,  however,  they,  by  the  present 
fashion,  dress  most  tamely  for  the  places  where 
striking  costume  is  most  needed.  I  felt  this  quite 
sensibly  yesterday.  From  my  seat  under  a  tree, 
where  I  dreamed  away  the  delicious  summer  fore 
noon,  I  had  the  range  of  the  ravine ;  and  everybody 
who  passed  through  made  part  of  my  landscape, 
for,  at  least,  half  an  hour  of  their  climbings  and 
hal tings.  You  know  how  much  any  romantic  scene 
is  heightened  in  its  effect  by  human  figures.  Every 
new  group  changed  and  embellished  the  glorious 
combination  of  rock,  foliage,  and  water  below  me, 
and  I  studied  their  dresses  and  attitudes  as  you 
would  criticise  them  in  a  picture.  The  men,  with 


ILLUSTRATED. 


-.^4t  : 


their  two  sticks  of  legs,  and  ;; 
angular  hats,  looked  abominably,  of 
course.  I  was  glad  when  they  were 
out  of  the  perspective.  But  the  ladies 
of  each  party,  with  their  flowing  skirts, 
veils  lifted  by  the  wind,  picturesque 
bonnets  and  parasols,  were  charming 
outlines  as  heighteners  to  the  effect,  and 
would  have  been  all  that  was  wanted 
to  render  it  perfect — only  that 
they  were  clad  in  the  colors  of 


colors  of   t 

— in  slatft-      i 


the  rock  behind  them — in  slate 
colored  riding- dresses,  Avithout  a 


single  exception, 
and  in  bonnets  and 


76  TRENTON    FALLS 

ribbons  adapted,  with  the  same  economy,  to  the 
dust  of  the  road.  In  the  course  of  the  morning, 
one  lady  came  along,  apparently  an  invalid,  resting 
at  every  spot  where  she  could  find  a  seat,  and  for 
her  use,  the  gentleman  who  was  with  her  carried  a 
crimson  shawl,  flung  over  his  shoulder.  You  would 
need  to  be  an  artist  to  understand  how  much  that 
one  shawl  embellished  the  scene.  It  concentrated 
the  light  of  the  whole  ravine,  and  though  there  were 
parties  of  pretty  girls  above  and  below,  and  new 
comers  every  two  or  three  minutes,  I  found  my  eye 

fastened  to  this  red  shawl  and  its  immediate  neio-h- 

t> 

borhood,  during  the  whole  time  of  its  remaining 
within  view.  I  made  as  vigorous  a  vow  as  the 
heavenly  languor  of  the  atmosphere  would  sustain, 
to  address,  through  the  Home  Journal,  an  appeal  to 
the  ladies  of  our  land  of  beauty,  imploring  them  to 
carry,  at  least,  a  scarf  over  the  arm,  white,  red,  or 
blue,  when  they  mingle  in  the  landscapes  of  our 
romantic  resorts — thus  supplying  all  that  is  wanted 
to  such  glorious  pictures  as  Trenton  and  Niagara ; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  they  thus,  artistically  as 
well  as  justly,  become  the  luminous  centre  to  which 
the  remainder  of  the  scene  is  entirely  subservient. 
Do  you  not  see,  Morris,  that  if  a  lady  in  a  blue 


ILLUSTRATED.  77 

travelling-habit  had  chanced  to  have  passed  up  the 
ravine  during  my  look-out  from  this  point  of  per 
spective,  Trenton  Falls  would  have  seemed  to  me  to 
be  only  an  enhancement  of  her  figure  and  appear 
ance — secondary  altogether  to  her  primary  and  con 
centrating  impression  on  the  eye  ?  Ladies  should 
avail  themselves  of  such  opportunities,  even  at  some 
more  pains  and  expense ;  for,  of  all  the  chance  ob 
stacles  to  appreciation  of  female  beauty  or  style,  the 
want  of  suitable  background  and  surroundings  is 
the  most  frequent  and  effectual. 

And,  apropos  of  seeing  fine  things  to  advantage, 
why  could  not  you,  my  fine  Brigadier,  give  us  a 
tableaux  vivant  at  Trenton — ordering  some  of  your 
companies  of  red-coats  to  campaign  it  for  a  week  at 
the  Falls,  and  let  us  see  how  the  "  war  of  waters" 
would  look,  thundering  down  upon  the  rocks  amid 
flags  and  uniforms  ?  Why,  it  would  be  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  shows  possible  to  contrive — a  putting 
of  Nature  into  holiday  costume,  as  it  were  ;  and  I 
scarce  know  which  would  more  embellish  the  other, 
brigade  or  cataract.  On  the  platform  above  each 
of  the  four  Falls  there  is  room  enough  to  encamp 
two  or  three  companies  in  tents ;  and,  fancy  looking 
down  the  gorge  from  the  summit  of  the  cliffs  above, 


78  TRENTON    FALLS 

and  seeing  these  successive  terraces,  with  waterfall 
and  military  array,  precipices  and  wild  forest,  in 
picturesque  and  magnificent  combination  !  The  fact 
is,  my  sodger,  that  the  usual  habiliments  of  mankind 
are  made  to  harmonize  with  brick  walls  and  dirty 
streets,  and  when  we  come  into  Nature's  gorgeous 
palaces  of  scenery,  looking  the  "  forked  radishes" 
that  we  are,  there  is  no  resisting  the  conviction  that 
we  are  either  wofully  out  of  place,  or  not  dressed 
with  suitable  regard  to  the  local  pomp  and  circum 
stance.  Suggest  to  our  friend  Beebe  to  invent,  at 
least,  a  sombrero,  and  advertise  it  as  the  thing  which 
etiquette  requires  should  be  worn  at  Niagara  and 
Trenton,  instead  of  a  hat  with  petty  rirn.  There 
would  be  an  obvious  propriety  in  the  fashion.  Where 
Nature  appears  in  her  waterfall  epaulettes,  'armor 
of  rocks,  and  dancing  plumes  of  foliage,  surely  there 
should  be  some  manner  of  corresponding  toggery 
wherewith  to  wait  upon  her. 

We  have  had  the  full  of  the  moon  and  a  cloudless 
sky  for  the  last  two  or  three  nights,  and  of  course 
we  have  walked  the  ravine  till  the  "  small  hours," 
seeing  with  wonder  the  transforming  effects  of  moon 
light  and  its  black  shadows  on  the  Falls  and  preci 
pices.  I  have  no  idea  (you  will  be  glad  to  know) 


ILLUSTRATED.  79 

of  trying  to  reproduce  these  sublimities  on  paper — 
at  least  not  with  my  travelling  stock  of  verbs  and 
adjectives.  To  "sandwich  the  moon  in  a  muffin," 
one  must  have  time  and  a  ladder  of  dictionaries. 
But  one  or  two  effects  struck  me  which  perhaps  are 
worth  briefly  naming,  and  I  will  throw  into  the  lot 
a  poetical  figure,  which  you  may  use  in  your  next 
song — giving  credit  to  your  "  distinguished  fellow- 
citizen,"  the  Moon,  for  the  original  suggestion. 

The  fourth  Fall  (or  the  one  which  is  flanked  by 
the  ruins  of  a  saw-mill)  is  perhaps  a  hundred  feet 
across  ;  and  its  curve  over  the  upper  rock  and  its 
break  upon  the  lower  one,  form  two  parallel  lines, 
the  water  everywhere  falling  the  same  distance  with 
the  evenness  of  an  artificial  cascade.  The  stream 
not  being  very  full  just  now,  it  came  over,  in  twenty 
or  thirty  places,  thicker  than  elsewhere ;  and  the 
effect,  from  a  distance,  as  the  moonlight  lay  full 
upon  it,  was  that  of  twenty  or  thirty  immovable 
marble  columns,  connected  by  transparent  curtains 
of  falling  lace,  and  with  bases  in  imitation  of  foam. 
Now  it  struck  me  that  this  might  suggest  a  new  and 
fanciful  order  of  architecture,  suitable  at  least  to 
the  structure  of  green-houses,  the  glass  roofs  of 
which  are  curved  over  and  slope  to  the  ground  with 


80  TRENTON    FALLS 

very  much  tlie  contour  of  a  waterfall.  Please  men 
tion  this  to  Downing,  the  next  time  you  meet  him 
on  board  the  Thomas  Powell,  arid  he'll  mention  it 
(for  the  use  of  some  happy,  extravagant  dog,  who 
can  afford  a  whim  or  so)  in  his  next  book  on  Rural 
Architecture. 

Subterranean  as  this  foaming  river  looks  by  day, 
it  looks  like  a  river  in  cloud-land  by  night.  The 
side  of  the  ravine  which  is  in  shadow,  is  one  undis- 
tinguishable  mass  of  black,  with  its  wavy  upper  edge 
in  strong  relief  against  the  sky,  and,  as  the  foaming 
stream  catches  the  light  from  the  opposite  and  moon 
lit  side,  it  is  outlined  distinctly  on  its  bed  of  dark 
ness,  and  seems  winding  its  way  between  hills  of 
clouds,  half  black,  half  luminous.  Below,  where  all 
is  deep  shadow  except  the  river,  you  might  fancy  it 
a  silver  mine  laid  open  to  your  view  amid  subterra 
nean  darkness  by  the  wand  of  an  enchanter,  or  (if 
you  prefer  a  military  trope,  my  dear  General)  a 
long  white  plume  laid  lengthwise  between  the  ridges 
of  a  cocked  hat. 

And  now — for  the  poetical  similitude  I  promised 
you — please  put  yourself  opposite  the  biggest  cat 
aract  of  all,  the  lowest  one,  where  the  whole  body 
of  the  river  is  forced  into  the  narrowing  approach  to 


ILLUSTRATED.  81 

a  precipice,  and  pitches  into  the  foamy  gulf  below, 
like  the  overthrow  of  Lucifer  and  his  hosts.  From 
one  cause  and  another,  this  is  the  angriest  downfall 
of  waters  possible ;  and  the  rock,  over  which  it 
tumbles,  here  makes  a  curve,  and  comes  round  with 
a  battlemented  projection,  looking  the  cataract  full 
in  the  face.  As  we  stood  gazing  at  this,  last  night, 
a  little  after  midnight,  the  moon  threw  the  shadow 
of  the  rock,  slantwise,  across  the  face  of  the  Fall. 
I  found  myself  insensibly  watching  to  see  whether 
the  delicate  outline  of  this  shadow  would  not  vary. 
There  it  lay,  still  as  the  shade  of  a  church-window 
across  a  marble  slab  on  the  wall,  drawing  its  fine 
line  over  the  most  phrensied  tumult  of  the  lashed 
and  agonized  waters,  and  dividing  whatever  leaped 
across  it,  foam,  spray,  or  driving  mist,  with  invaria 
ble  truthfulness  to  the  rock  that  lay  behind.  Now, 
my  song-maker,  if  you  ever  have  a  great  man  to 
make  famous — a  hero  who  unflinchingly  represents 
a  great  principle  amid  the  raging  opposition,  hatred, 
and  malice  of  mankind — there  is  your  similitude ! 
Calm  as  the  shadow  of  a  rock  across  the  foam  of  a 
cataract,  would  be  a  neat  thing  to  "  salt  down"  for 
Calhoun  or  Van  Buren — (whichever  holds  out  best 
or  first  wants  it) — and  it  would  go  off,  in  one  of 


82  TRENTON    FALLS 

your  speeches,  like  a  Paixhan  gun.  I  tied  a  knot 
in  the  end  of  my  cravat,  standing  at  the  Fall,  to  re 
member  it  for  you. 

Baron  de  Trobriand  has  been  here  for  the  last  day 
or  two,  as  I  mentioned  in  my  last  letter.  I  had 
been  reading,  on  the  road,  a  French  novel,  of  which 
he  is  the  author,  ("  Les  Gentils  hommes  de  I' Quest,") 
and  I  am  amused  to  see  how  he  carries  out,  in  his 
impulsive  and  enthusiastic  Avay  of  enjoying  scenery, 
the  impression  you  get  of  his  character  from  his 
buoyant  and  brilliant  style  of  writing.  We  have 
not  seen  him  at  a  meal  since  he  has  been  here. 
After  one  look  at  the  Falls,  he  came  back  and  made 
a  foray  upon  the  larder,  got  a  tin  kettle  in  which  he 
packed  the  simple  provender  he  might  want,  and 
was  off  with  his  portfolio  to  sketch  and  ramble  out 
the  day,  impatient  alike  of  the  restraints  of  meals  or 
companions.  He  returns  at  night  with  his  slight 
and  elegant  features  burnt  with  the  sun,  wet  to  the 
knees  with  wading  the  rapids,  and  quite  overdone 
with  fatigue,  and  rejoins  the  gay  but  more  leisurely 
and  luxurious  party  with  which  he  travels.  Look 
ing  down  from  one  of  the  cliffs  yesterday  afternoon, 
I  saw  him  hard  at  work,  ankle- deep  in  water,  bring 
ing  pieces  of  rock  and  building  a  causeway  across 


ILLUSTRATED. 


83 


the  shallows  of  the  stream,  to  induce  the  ladies  to 
come  to  the  edge  of  the  Falls,  otherwise  inaccessible. 
He  has  made  one  or  two  charming  sketches  of  the 
ravine,  being,  as  you  know,  an  admirable  artist. 
There  is  an  infusion  of  joyousness  and  impulse,  as 
well  as  of  genius,  in  the  noble  blood  of  this  gentle 
man  who  has  come  to  live  among  us  ;  and  I  trust 
that,  with  the  increase  of  our  already  large  French 
j  ^  population,  he  will  think  it  worth 

while  to  graft  himself  on  our  pe 
riodical  literature,  and  give  it  an 
effervescence  that  it  needs.  You 
remember  his  gay  critiques  of  the 
Opera  last  winter. 

I  meant  to  have  described 
to  you  the  path  through  the 
forest,  along  the  edge  of  the 
cliff  overhanging 
the    ravine  —  its 


8-i  TRENTON    FALLS 

beauty  by  moonlight,  with  its  fire-fly  lamps  and  lo 
cust  hymns — the  lunar  rainbow  visible  from  one  of 
its  eyries — and  other  stuff  for  poetry  with  which  I 
mentally  filled  my  pockets  in  strolling  about ;  but 
my  letter  is  long,  and  I  have  still  an  addition  to 
make  to  it,  for  the  use  of  visitors  to  Trenton.  Chan 
cing  to  have  taken  with  me  a  new  Poem,  "  Niagara," 
by  Rev.  C.  H,  A.  BULKLEY,  I  found  "  my  sentiments 
better  expressed"  in  some  of  his  thoughts  about 
water-courses,  and  as  other  people  may  like  to  have 
their  thinking  done  for  them,  as  well  as  I,  I  simply 
copy  them  out,  and  so  end  my  letter.  He  is  a  man 
of  thought,  as  you  see,  by  the  way,  and 
the  book  is  worth  reading  throughout.  ) 

See  postscript,  and  believe  me, 
Yours,  &c., 


->:•:£&££, 


ILLUSTRATED.  85 

P.  S.— Thus  speculates  Mr.  Bulkley  :— 

Ix  thy  hoarse  strains  is  heard  the  desolate  wail 

Of  streams  unnumbered  wandering  far  away 

From  mountain  homes,  where,  'neath  the  shady  rocks, 

Their  parent  springs  gave  them  a  peaceful  birth  ; 

In  one  united  voice  their  grief  resounds, 

Mourning  the  loss  of  pensive  woods  and  vales, 

No  more  to  greet  their  musical  return  ; 

Downward,  clasped  tremblingly  in  wild  embrace, 

They  headlong  plunge  and  writhe  in  agony ; 

Upward  their  deep  groan  goes  to  hill  and  glen, 

Till,  mingled  in  despair,  seaward  they  roll, 

To  swell  the  caves  of  Ocean  never  full, 

Repeating  loudly  all  along  his  shore, 

In  the  sad  moanings  of  the  heaving  surf, 

Like  this,  the  anguish  of  their  ebbing  life  : 

"  Oh,  wood-crowned  hills  !  in  whose  cool  grottoes  born, 

"We  leaped  to  light  with  chimes  of  early  spring, 

And  down  your  deep  ravines  and  shady  sides, 

Flowed  with  the  music  of  the  youthful  heart ; 

"We  long,  with  outstretched  arms  and  mournful  plaint, 

To  mount  your  heights  again,  and  play  in  love 

"With  the  green  children  of  the  forest  home  ; 

To  start  in  silence  from  the  fissured  rock, 

And  roll  in  peace  along  your  verdant  cheeks  ; 

Oh !  when,  ye  listening  hills,  shall  we  return, 

And  bubble  up  again  within  your  hearts  ? 

Ye  sun-clad  vales  !  that  slept  in  light  unchecked, 

With  visions  beauteous  as  an  infant's  dream, 


86  TRENTON    FALLS 

How  joyously  along  thy  banks  we  played, 

Where  yellow  moccasins  and  the  wild-rose  grew, 

Like  maidens  dancing  in  the  spring-time  gay, 

With  tinkling  feet  upon  the  dewy  lawn  ! 

Oh,  blessed  vales  !  shall  we  behold  again 

Your  peaceful  images  and  quiet  slopes, 

The  guardian  tenants  of  your  pathless  home, 

Or  breathe  the  stillness  of  your  fragrant  air  ? 

Ah !  how  we  yearn  to  bend  our  footsteps  back. 

And  tread  your  devious  pathways  once  agaiu  ! 

How  fiercely,  yet,  alas  !  how  vainly  now, 

We  beat  against  the  stern  imprisoning  shore, 

That  stretches  out  its  everlasting  bar, 

Foe  to  return,  defying  every  siege  ! 

Ye  wandering  spirits  of  the  land-wind,  hear  ! 

We  mourn  for  you  whom  oft  we  joyful  bore 

On  loving  bosoms  where  your  footsteps  played  ; 

Say,  never  more  shall  we  in  your  embrace 

Be  held,  nor  in  your  unseen  presence  sport  ? 

Come,  ye  blest  breathings  of  the  earth,  come  now, 

From  glen  and  grove,  and  waft  us  back  again 

To  those  sweet  play -grounds  of  our  infant  days. 

Ye  mountains  !  looking  down  from  star-crowned  heights, 

Whose  guardian  summits  watched  us  in  our  mirth, 

As  parents  eye  the  life-springs  of  their  hearts  ; 

Was  it  not  joy  for  us  to  dwell  beneath 

Your  shadows,  resting  from  the  noonday  heat  ? 

Ay  !  it  was  bliss  to  cool  our  sun-struck  tide 

Beneath  th'  umbrageous  shelter  of  your  woods  ! 


ILLUSTRATED.  87 

To  you,  to  leaf-clad  hills,  to  shining  vales, 

Must  we  now  speak  that  bitter  word,  '  Farewell  ?' 

Must  we  the  strife  of  fierce  leviathans 

Endure,  and  ever  bear  th'  oppressive  weight 

Of  laden  barks,  that  break  the  yielding  wave  ? 

Must  we  be  driven  and  scourged  like  heartless  slaves, 

By  the  keen  lashes  of  the  tempest's  hand, 

Or  tremble  at  the  terror  of  his  frown  ? 

We  would  that  once  again  the  heated  lip 

Of  the  lone  hunter  or  the  hard-pressed  stag, 

Of  school-boy  loosed  from  Wisdom's  serious  look, 

Or  herds  that  stood  midway  within  the  tide, 

Might  draw  refreshing  life  from  our  cool  fonts ; 

We  would  that  some  sweet  maiden  might  once  more, 

With  her  reflected  image  glassed  below, 

Smooth  her  dishevelled  locks  her  love  to  meet ; 

Oh  !  that  again  we  might  in  rapture  hear 

Those  heart-warm  words  that  gushed  with  new-born  Lopes, 

And  loving  promises  from  blended  hearts, 

Repeated  in  the  babblings  of  our  wave  ; 

That  we  might  see  those  fond  embraces,  full 

Of  Life's  deep  rapture  unalloyed  and  bright ! 

We  miss  the  cottage  by  the  emerald  bank, 

Where  merry  voices  bubbled  with  our  springs, 

And  tones  of  prayer  were  heard  at  vesper-time. 

We  see  not  now  the  Poet  with  his  book, 

Wrapt  in  the  ecstasy  of  thought,  alone 

And  on  the  grassy  slope  reclined  at  length, 

Anon  beholding  Nature  and  his  page, 


88  TRENTON    FALLS 

To  form  anew  from  her  loved  images 
And  sentiments  of  other  hearts,  combined 
With  those  begotten  in  his  busy  soul, 
A  bright  creation  for  the  wondering  world. 
Ah  !  not  the  least,  we  miss  the  errant  lad 
With  hook  and  line  of  rude  construction  formed, 
And  writhing  worm  to  lure  the  simple  trout  ; 
And  the  light  skip  of  footless  keels  that  sped 
With  flying  sail  or  paddle  o'er  our  tide, 
By  mirthful  songs  or  measured  shouts  well-timed. 
Whither,  ah !  whither  shall  we  look  to  find 
A  pathway  opened  for  our  backward  step  ? 
0,  Sun  !  thou  only  helper  in  our  woe, 
Come  with  thy  beams  and  gently  draw  us  up ; 
Let  clouds  that  follow  in  thy  regal  train, 
Bend  at  thy  word  from  their  ethereal  flight, 
And  bear  us  in  their  bosoms  to  our  homes. 
Come,  ere  in  anguish,  as  we  beat  the  beach, 
To  drive  the  sand  or  break  the  heartless  rock, 
And  dig  our  pathway  back  again  to  joy, 
We  yield  to  Ocean's  power  our  ebbing  hearts, 
And  all  despairing  die  along  the  shore  !" 
Alas  !  how  vain  their  cry  !  'tis  like  the  prayer 
Of  disappointed  Age  that  asks  for  youth  ! 
Of  souls  that  rushed  down  Life's  declivities, 
In  all  the  madness  of  their  heated  hopes  ; 
Man's  heart-wrung  wishes  fall  back  on  our  ears, 
Like  the  deep  moanings  of  returnlcss  streams ! 
****** 


ILLUSTRATED. 


SO 


conclusion,  we  regret  to  say  that 
J  we  can  offer  neither  clue  nor  guide  to 
the  innumerable  thoughts  that  have 
been  suggested  to  the  glowing  imagi 
nations  oi  tue  many  remarkable  and  gifted  persons 
who  have  visited  Trenton.  The  best  minds  of  the 
country  have  been  subjected  to  these  stirring  and 
sweet  influences,  and  delicious  memories  have  been 
laid  up,  with  brilliant  fancies  to  keep  them  company, 
and  we  know  not  where  to  point  to  these  unseen 
but  most  valuable  treasures.  Still,  they  are  not 
lost.  Bright  visions  of  scenery,  and  the  deep 
thoughts  they  awaken,  are  always  well  turned  to 
account.  Some  are  used  in  oratory  and  some  in 
poetry,  some  in  the  pulpit  and  some  in  love,  some 
in  books  and  some  to  make  homes  happy — and  so, 
Trenton  influences  are  distributed  and  do  good,  even 
though  we  cannot  trace  them  from  where  they 
spring.; — But  still,  it  is  interesting  to  know  who  has 
been  here — and  particularly,  what  celebrities,  that 


90  TRENTON    FALLS 

have  since  passed  away — and  how  the  Falls  impressed 
them,  and  what  they  chanced  to  express.  Of  these 
points  of  interest,  Mr.  Moore's  memory  is  a  store 
house  ;  and  though  we  have  in  vain  urged  him  to 
make  a  record  of  his  mementoes  of  the  distinguished 
guests  he  has  incidentally  mentioned  to  us,*  he  is 
a  walking  suppression  of  a  delightful  volume  of 
souvenirs  of  Trenton  and  its  visitors.  We  hope  he 
may  yet  give  it  to  print. 

With  the  new  plank  road,  the  enlargements  and 
improvements  of  the  Hotel,  and  Mr.  Moore,  the  pro 
prietor's,  long-cherished  interest  in  the  place,  TREN 
TON  FALLS  have  now  become  quite  the  most  delight 
ful  of  the  romantic  resorts  of  the  country,  and  there 
is  certainly  no  spot  where  so  many  advantages  are 
offered  to  the  lovers  of  seclusion  and  nature. 

*  Among  others,  Charming,  Bishop  Hobart,  De  Witt  Clinton, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Chancellor  Kent,  Judge  Story,  Dr.  Sam 
uel  Mitchell,  Edmund  Kean,  arid  Joseph  Bonaparte. 


PRINCIPAL  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


SHERMAN  FALL Frontispiece. 

VILLAGE  FALL PAGE    12 

HIGH 


GH  FALLS,      ) 
Front  view,  ) 


HIGH  FALLS, 

Looking  down  the  ravine, 


CASCADE  OF  THE  ALHAMBRA  ..........................  24 

VIEW  FROM  CARMICHAEL'S  POINT,  OF  UPPER  PART  OF  HIGH 

FALL,  THE  MILL-DAM  FALL  IN  THE  DISTANCE  ...........    32 

SCENE  NEAR  THE  ROCKY  HEART  .......................     34 

MILL-DAM  FALL  ........................  ...........  78 

HOTEL  (WEST  WING)  ................................  90 


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